Online,
The burial grounds of old New England hold a wonderful range of poetic messages in the epitaphs carved on their gravestones, each a profound expression of emotion, culture, religion, and literature. Too often dismissed as mere sentimental doggerel, these passages can be fascinating and well worth paying attention to. After all, every single epitaph was chosen, deliberately, on an occasion of the utmost gravity and importance, the death of a parent or child or spouse or neighbor. Join John Hanson, expert on early New England epitaphs, as he shares some outstanding verses on old stones in Cambridge's Old Burying Ground. He will reveal their sources of inspiration, including Scripture, hymnody, poetry, and epitaphs made-to-order for a particular individual. We will consider what these very personal choices tell us about early New Englanders’ attitudes towards life, death, and eternity. (Image: Courtesy of the American Antiquarian Society).