Rhyme Scheme Of Epilogue Jarman

In his poem, “Epilogue,” Jarman breaks from traditional Shakespearian sonnet from in an ironic way. The first quatrain completely follows sonnet elements in a unique way; there is repetition at the beginning of each line “[t]oday is” (1-4) and in the middle of each of the four lines, “and yesterday is” (1-4). This reputation resembles the repetition of the Beatitudes in the Gospel of Matthew. Jarman then breaks the rhyme scheme of a Shakespearean passage in the second quatrain in two lines, “full” and “animal.” These two words may be considered half rhymes, but they provide an inharmonious feeling. This sudden shift in rhyme style makes sense because it resembles the unpleasing event of the Tower of Babel. The phrase “[s]omeone is God who had
a common name” (7) shows how God is being stated as common, as someone who can easily be reached thus resembling the Tower of Babel. “The stars sign the new cosmos at a slant” (11) also provide evidence for the link to the Tower of Babel. Stars are high above and the cosmos is usually defined as well ordered but then “slant” (11) shows that a distortion has occurred, people trying to reach God who is high above. The couplet at the ends then shows another half rhyme, “flash” and “flash.” This break in his harmonic rhyme scheme finishes off the passage by summarizing the theme that people should act like is described in the Beatitudes, not like those that helped with the Tower of Babel. The title of this sonnet is related to the text because epilogue is a conclusion of what has happened and in the text, the couplet describes how God turned ashes to Flesh. And when death comes we will “meet our maker, in a flash” (13) and there he will be the one to judge people for their actions of either being like that as described in the Beatitudes or like those who helped in The Tower of Babel.