JAMB - Literature In English (2001 - No. 22)
Come away, come away, death,
And in sad cypress let me be laid...
In the lines above, the character is
expressing his unhappiness about death
expressing his preference for a cypress coffin
lamenting over his unreciprocated love
wishing for death to come
Explanation
The lines you refer to are from Feste's song in Twelfth Night, where the character expresses sorrow over love that is not returned. The use of "Come away, come away, death" reflects the speaker's deep despair, wishing for death as an escape from the pain of unrequited love. The mention of being laid in "sad cypress," a tree often associated with mourning, reinforces the theme of sadness and loss, rather than a preference for death itself or a cypress coffin.
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