Lyric Poem · Death & Loss

Life

by Sir Walter Raleigh

Reading room

1What is our life? A play of passion,

2Our mirth the music of division,

3Our mother's wombs the tiring-houses be,

4Where we are dressed for this short comedy.

5Heaven the judicious sharp spectator is,

6That sits and marks still who doth act amiss.

7Our graves that hide us from the setting sun

8Are like drawn curtains when the play is done.

9Thus march we, playing, to our latest rest,

10Only we die in earnest, that's no jest.

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“Life” by Sir Walter Raleigh — quilloak.com/poems/life

Quick facts

Poem: Life
Poet: Sir Walter Raleigh
Length: 10 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Death & Loss, Peace, Short

Craft notes

How this poem works

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Shape: 10 lines · one 10-line stanza
Line length: Mostly 10-syllable lines (pentameter length).

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Text, source & rights

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Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.

Author record: Sir Walter Raleighc. 1552–1618
Source record: PoetryDBLife by sir-walter-raleigh, PoetryDB transcription
Display decision: Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
Publication record: Not recorded in the imported source
Text fingerprint: SHA-256 fb20f20ac1f86744…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Death & Loss Peace Short

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