Gravely Speaking

Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Thomas Earle White

1857 – 1916

There are several expressions in the American lexicon that express how fleeting our time on this Earth is, how this temporal life is short. The grand old soap opera, Days of Our Lives, has as their catchphrase, “Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives.”  Life measured by the grains of sand slip through one side of the hourglass to the other in a flash.

The hourglass symbol on a gravestone, often shown with wings, as it here, represents the same thought of time fleeting by quickly reminding us of the expression “Time Flies”.  This symbol, a winged hourglass, brings that expression to life, so to speak.

A reminder in stone that life is short and that time is fleeting, every minute of every day brings one closer and closer to death.

It is also an admonition to us NOT to put off making that phone call to an ailing parent, sending that letter to a distant friend, mailing that birthday card even if it’s a day late, getting that present purchased and wrapped to celebrate an anniversary, or the simple act of telling those who you love that you do before it is too late and time has taken flight.

Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts

JULES MARCOU

SALINS FRANCE 1824 – CAMBRIDGE MASS 1898

Tucked away in a shaded spot in the Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is the small tombstone of Jules Marcou, born in France on April 20, 1824, and died at Cambridge, Massachusetts, on April 7, 1898, just 3 days short of his 74^th birthday. Marcou was a noted geologist who published a series of books and papers, including: Cretaceous formations of the Jura, Dyas (Permian) of Nebraska, Taconic rocks of Vermont and Canada, American Geological Classification and Nomenclature, Geological Map of the World, A Little More Light on the United States Geological Survey, and Geology of North America. Marcou was a protégé of famed natural historian Louis Agassiz and also published Life, letters, and works of Louis Agassiz.

Marcou’s gravestone is delicately carved into a Nautilus—a spiral shaped sea shell, a “lustrous coil”. The Nautilus is intricately comprised of a series of chambers, each abandoned and sealed off as the sea creature grows bigger and needs a larger living space. Once the smaller space is abandoned, it is sealed off completely and cannot be returned to. The Nautilus-shaped gravestone is likely a paean to Marcou’s work in geology but others see the Nautilus as having a deeper meaning.

The poem, The Chambered Nautilus, by Oliver Wendell Homes, Jr., contemplates the Nautilus and the metaphor that can be drawn between it and the changes one goes through in this life. Holmes most clearly draws the metaphor in the last stanza.

Here, in this stanza Holmes hopes that each stage of life will be better than the last as the past is left behind, “Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul.” He calls out to, “Leave thy low-vaulted past!” Out with the old and in with the new and better self, “Let each new temple, nobler than the last, Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast.”

The Chambered Nautilus

This is the ship of pearl, which, poets feign,

Sails the unshadowed main,—

The venturous bark that flings

On the sweet summer wind its purpled wings

In gulfs enchanted, where the Siren sings,

And coral reefs lie bare,

Where the cold sea-maids rise to sun their streaming hair.

Its webs of living gauze no more unfurl;

Wrecked is the ship of pearl!

And every chambered cell,

Where its dim dreaming life was wont to dwell,

As the frail tenant shaped his growing shell,

Before thee lies revealed,—

Its irised ceiling rent, its sunless crypt unsealed!

Year after year beheld the silent toil

That spread his lustrous coil;

Still, as the spiral grew,

He left the past year’s dwelling for the new,

Stole with soft step its shining archway through,

Built up its idle door,

Stretched in his last-found home, and knew the old no more.

Thanks for the heavenly message brought by thee,

Child of the wandering sea,

Cast from her lap, forlorn!

From thy dead lips a clearer note is born

Than ever Triton blew from wreathèd horn!

While on mine ear it rings,

Through the deep caves of thought I hear a voice that sings:—

Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,

As the swift seasons roll!

Leave thy low-vaulted past!

Let each new temple, nobler than the last,

Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,

Till thou at length art free,

Leaving thine outgrown shell by life’s unresting sea!

Greenwood Cemetery, Phoenix, Arizona

The Erhardt Family Monument in the Greenwood Cemetery at Phoenix, Arizona, is an example of the influence of the Egyptian revival found in American cemeteries in the 19^th century and on into the 20^th century. Egyptian ornamentation can be divided into three categories—architectural, geometric, and natural.  The monument has a strong and commanding architectural features. The sides of the monument tilt slightly inward forming a doorway, the cavetto cornice curves into a half circle at the top. The monument is geometrically balanced—two urns on each flank and one in the center.

The natural elements of the monument features two winged globes with uroei above the doorway and on the cornice. In this example, there are three sets of falcon wings that are a symbol of the king, the sun, and the sky. The globe represents the Egyptian god, Horus. The uroei, snakes, are waiting to strike. They symbolize the king’s ability to ward off evil spirits.

Along the sides of the doorway are the long slender stems of the lotus flower, sacred to the Egyptian and Buddhist cultures. The Lotus represents purity and evolution. The lotus is born in the water, the primordial ooze—making it also a symbol of creation and rebirth.

The monument gives one the sense of solemnity and a sense of eternity, reminiscent of the temples of the pharaohs.

Greenwood Cemetery, Phoenix, Arizona

The monument for the Beck family in the Greenwood Cemetery, at Phoenix, Arizona, has atop it a young female figure. Her head is bent forward, she is looking down in reflection and sorrow, while she is holding a rose bloom in one hand and clutching a floral wreath in the other. This is a common Victorian funerary symbol expressing the transitory nature of life.

The rose is a secular symbol for love and beauty but is also associated with the Virgin Mary—the rose without thorns. The rose, however, can also connote age. A rose bud, generally found on a child’s grave, represents the life that has yet to bloom. Often, in that case the bud will be on a broken stem indicating that the life was cut short. A partial bloom on the rose would indicate an older child, such as a teenager, while a full bloom, as we have here indicates the life of someone who has reached maturity. In this case, Mary Beck, who lived from 1825 to 1912, and Ira Beck, who lived from 1861 to 1940, lived long lives indicative of the full blossom on the rose that the statue holds.

Greenwood Cemetery, Phoenix, Arizona

THOMAS K. ELVEY

DEC. 26, 1843

AUG. 13, 1902

AT REST

Sitting on top of this gray granite gravestone in the Greenwood Cemetery at Phoenix, Arizona, is a large acorn, turned upside down.  The acorn, seed of the mighty oak, is a symbol of prosperity and fruitfulness.  When the acorn is paired with oak leaves it is seen as a traditional symbol of strength.  The single acorn can represent a kernel of truth born into spiritual growth.  Twin acorns can represent male sexuality.  Two acorns can also represent truth and power of the Holy Spirit. The former is revealed in the Earthly realm and the later after entering the Heavenly realm.

The hex design that is formed at the top of the acorn (here the acorn is upside down so it is seen at the bottom) is used by the Mennonites and Amish artisans.  The design signifies protection and natural abundance.

Greenwood Cemetery, Phoenix, Arizona

The crown is a fairly common symbol found in American cemeteries.  Sometimes it can be found as an incised carving at the top of the gravestone—often in conjunction with other symbolism such as palm leaves.  Sometimes the crown is made of a completely different material, such as zinc, and anchored on top of a gravestone.

This weathered gravestone, however, in the Greenwood Cemetery at Phoenix, Arizona, has the crown built into the design of the stone, topping the square column.

The crown is a symbol of glory and reward and victory over death.  The reward comes after life and the hard-fought battle on Earth against the wages of sin and the temptations of the flesh.  The reward awaits in Heaven where the victor will receive a crown of victory.  The crown also represents the sovereign authority of the Lord.