A time to prepareSay no to plagiarism. Get a Custom Essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayCemeteries (and other burial sites) are earthly sanctuaries for the fragile remains of a person's mortal existence. Walking these grounds can be a peaceful and sacred experience. Some people talk to the graves and if one listens closely they can hear them whispering back. In Herbert's poem, Church Monuments, which could function as a prayer, the speaker feels at peace in such an environment as he contemplates his own death while walking through his future sacred cemetery. Among various religions and in the Bible we can find parallels with this poem. This poem has 24 lines, which could correspond to 24 hours of a day. This is significant to the poem because of the importance of the passage of time and the temporal state of the body in mortality. It says in Ecclesiastes 12:7 that the body is a temporary vessel for the spirit before it returns to God. Over time, the body diminishes, but remains firmly attached to the soul it contains. The first three lines of the first stanza present the two main themes of the poem: religious devotion and the symbiosis between body and soul. We are then introduced to the speaker. He appears to be an old man preparing for his soul's journey to the next life. In almost all religions, a spiritual journey is necessary to prepare for the afterlife. For the ancient Egyptians, death was the catalyst for their rebirth. It was their path to the afterlife. They prepared themselves physically for this by the special preservation of their bodies (the fascinating process of mummification) and by storing their material possessions with them in an elaborate tomb. Some of their ideas were reminiscent of Christian beliefs; there are some major parallels. The Egyptians, like the speaker of this poem, did not fear death. They knew that if they were properly prepared, they could face it with comfort and confidence. The speaker stops at a grave and admits that one day soon, he will be buried there too. In a way, he becomes acquainted with his grave and therefore knows what to expect when death comes to claim him. He feels that death is approaching his door; the time is near. Death advances because it is “nourished by the exhalation of our crimes” (line 5). This phrase says that without sin, death would have no purpose. The more we sin, the stronger death has a hold on our souls. Over the course of a lifetime, these sins take their toll, inviting death to claim its due. For the speaker, “[h]is bones are full of the sin of his youth, which will lie with him in the dust” (Job 20:11). This verse is trying to convey that if we do not seek absolution from our sins before we die, we will take them to the grave. They will be attached to our shoulders when we face God on the day of judgment. This is a belief common to most Christian denominations. The second stanza deals with the importance of a grave and what will take place there. Although they act as a worthy symbol of remembrance and a link between the living and the deceased, monuments are not eternal. They too are dust and constitute only a simple materialistic barrier between the earth and the body. They too will eventually turn to dust, but the speaker entrusts his body to his grave and knows that it will be safe there. He will be able to find comfort under the “heraldry and dusty lines” inscribed on the tombstone because he knows that death is part of the course of nature and God’s plan (line 9). Ecclesiastes 12:7. 2015.