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Come to a sticky end [1] To die in a way that is considered unpleasant Humorous: British. Also 'to meet a sticky end'. Counting worms [5] Dead Euphemistic: Croak [7] To die Slang: Crossed the Jordan Died Biblical/Revivalist The deceased has entered the Promised Land (i.e. Heaven) Curtains Death Theatrical The final curtain at a dramatic performance
In The Last Chronicle of Barset (1867), by Anthony Trollope, after the sudden death of the Bishop's wife, the Archdeacon describes De mortuis as a proverb "founded in humbug" that only need be followed in public and is unable to bring himself to adopt "the namby-pamby every-day decency of speaking well of one of whom he had ever thought ill."
The proverb is found in a number of forms. Benjamin Franklin included a version in his Poor Richard's Almanack (1758), but over a century earlier, the poet George Herbert included it in a 1640 collection of aphorisms. [4] [5] [6] Predecessors include the following:
A proverbial phrase or expression is a type of conventional saying similar to a proverb and transmitted by oral tradition. The difference is that a proverb is a fixed expression, while a proverbial phrase permits alterations to fit the grammar of the context. [1] [2] In 1768, John Ray defined a proverbial phrase as:
Alfred, Lord Tennyson "Tears, Idle Tears" is a lyric poem written in 1847 by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892), the Victorian-era English poet. Published as one of the "songs" in his The Princess (1847), it is regarded for the quality of its lyrics.
Muir considers that this makes the poem "among the worst he [Burns] wrote". [7] McGuirk argues that the poem is representative of Burns's inability in his early poems to conceive of an end other than death to the struggles and injustices of life. [8] Burns initially wrote the poem in response to pervasive "economic and social injustices" in ...
"Come Lord Jesu, come quickly, finish in me the work that Thou has begun; into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit, for Thou has redeemed me. O God of truth, save me Thy servant, who hopes and confides in Thee alone; let Thy mercy, O Lord, be shewn unto me; in Thee have I trusted, O Lord, let me not be confounded for ever."
Late in the poem, the verse even picks up Norman metre and something like a couplet form. At the same time, the proverbs resemble the gnomic compositions of earlier Anglo-Saxon instruction. The proverbs are expressed as highly compressed metaphors that are halfway to the poetry found in the Anglo-Saxon riddle and Gnomic Verses.