Summary

The poem begins by describing a moment when a "rich soul" has gone to heaven (1). Everyone celebrates her, as long as they have a soul themselves, for the sign of having a soul is the ability to recognize that quality in others. The "queen" – the young, now deceased Elizabeth – makes her way to Heaven, where she joins a heavenly choir (7). The poet asks whether Earth gained or lost by her death. Though she is gone, it is also a gain, since it left the world with an example of what true goodness is. The world has experienced both joy and grief. It would be better if the "sun" itself were gone than to lose the young Elizabeth (26). In losing her, the Earth has forgotten itself, because she gave life on Earth meaning. It is only her life that made Earth worth living in, and...