Hic Jacet
Hic Jacet - meaning Summary
Darkly Comic Family Portrait
This poem presents a satirical, slightly macabre portrait of a coroner's family whose children laugh easily despite—or because of—their association with death. Williams contrasts the cheerful, prosperous appearance of the children with the unsettling profession of their father, suggesting a moral irony: their well-being depends on mortality around them. The tone mixes lightness and discomfort, prompting readers to notice social and ethical contradictions beneath ordinary domestic imagery.
Read Complete AnalysesThe coroner's merry little children Have such twinkling brown eyes. Their father is not of gay men And their mother jocular in no wise, Yet the coroner's merry little children Laugh so easily. They laugh because they prosper. Fruit for them is upon all branches. Lo! how they jibe at loss, for Kind heaven fills their little paunches! It's the coroner's merry, merry children Who laugh so easily.
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