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English Literature / Unit 14   ENL 1315 short lesson, about 20 seconds

"The Bishop Orders His Tomb"

Captions available

The idea

In "The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxed's Church," a dying Renaissance bishop, opening "Vanity, saith the preacher, vanity!", instructs his illegitimate sons on a lavish tomb to outdo his rival, old Gandolf. His worldliness, greed and envy betray the faith he preaches.

In practice

A deathbed, a tomb, a rival.

Where people slip

The irony is his vanity about vanity.

Your place on the trail

Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.

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