Epitaphs+and+Inscriptions+2

Some epitaphs are pretty funny, and some are ironic. Like Ephr Arm'starr's: "He died while returning from the springs for his health, 1990." Most epitaphs dont rhyme but some do. Margaret Bent's epitaph rhymed and it went like this: "Here lies the body of Margaret Bent, She kicked up her heels and away she went." Or Jonathan Blake's, "Here lies the body of Jonathan Blake; stepped on the gas pedal instead of the brake." Some epitaph's are very small and some are pretty long. Some of the people under dirt remain a mystery, but they still have epitaphs! Like this one, written for a mystery girl the cemetery called Gussie, "Here lies the body of a girl who died, nobody mourned and nobody cried. How she lived and how she fared, nobody knew and nobody cared." Epitaphs or inscriptions like that are often used, but usually for people that were mysteries or weren't claimed as anyone's family, like Gussie.

Here are some more epitaphs, like the ones above.

"Here lies Ezekiel Aikle Age 102 The Good Die Young."

"Here lies Johnny Yeast Pardon me For not rising."

"She always said her feet were killin' her but nobody beleived her."

Inscriptions are more serious than most epitaphs. They usually start with the opening lines of "Here lies the body of..." and go on to desribe that person's accomlishments. Inscriptions used to be carved by the family members of the deceased, and so they were not very neat or very elegant. Today inscriptions are carved by people trained in stone-carving Most verses in an inscription are conventional, traditional and repetetive. After about 1800 the opening phrase "Here Lies" was rarely used, instead, phrases like "In-Memory of..." etc. were more often used. In the seventeenth century and the early eighteenth century, upercase bold lettering was more often used then regular script.

Inscriptions can rhyme, but they are not funny. They are more often than not very solemn or elegant, blessing the deceased on their trip to heaven or something else religious. Two of the most frequently used verses on the eighteenth century grave stones were examples where the deceased was speaking:

"By me Mortality you'r taught Your days will pass like mine. Eternity Amazing thought, Hangs on this thread of time."

"What you are reading o'er my bones I've often read on other tombs. And others soon will read of thee What you are reading now of me."

Inscriptions on older tombs often use words that are not used today, such as "thee", "thy", "o'er" etc. Older inscriptions on tombstones may make readers laugh, since people werent' very well educated so the spelling wasnt usually correct. Such as: dyed instead of died, bleow for below, or daftr for daughter, since we prounounce the word laughter as "lafter."