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Summary Lerne to Dye/Learn to Die from Thomas Hoccleve's Series
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Lerne to Dye 1Contents
Lerne to Dye – Hoccleve [tw: death, I guess?]...............................................................................1
Seminar..........................................................................................................................................4
Lerne to Dye – Hoccleve [tw: death, I guess?]
dialogue between god and hoccleve 1,2
Hoccleve asks God for knowledge, and God gives him that. God promises to teach Hoccleve
1. how to die3
2. how to live
3. how to rejoice in the Eucharist
4. how to love and honour God with a clean and pure heart
Hoccleve says he wants nothing more than to learn these 4 things.
This is the art before all arts. All men understand that they are mortal. If you have learned to die it
means that your heart and soul are always ready for death so that when Death comes they are well-
prepared.4 That way, Death is like the coming of a friend: something desirable and something you
are happy about. But many people loathe to think about death. They think it burdensome, preferring
to think of worldly sweetness. They don’t want to die. They spend a lot of their time sinning, and,
since death comes unexpectedly for them, they have not repented and will then be in everlasting
pain. Hoccleve, God warns, is lucky that he has not died yet. He should repent from his sins and turn
to God’s doctrine. That is much more profitable than gold or books written by philosophers.
dialogue between a dying man and a disciple
Hoccleve sees (in his imagination) a young man who is very ill and looks like he’ll be dead within a
week. But he has not yet prepared his soul to die, so the man cries. He says that he is surrounded by
lamentations and wonders why he was even born at all, or why he didn’t die as an infant. The
thought of dying now makes him bitter and hurtful. Death came suddenly to him, he was young,
strong and prosperous. He wants to know where he will go after death, but he sees no help. Then he
hears the horrible voice of Death telling him that he will die, and family, friendships or gold will not
be able to save him from that. This man asks God if there is no chance that his sentence may be
changed. He is not yet ready to die, he begs to stay alive for longer.
After hearing this complaint, the disciple answers this man that Death’s judgement is equal to all,
that it is favourable to nobody but shares itself equally. Death has no mercy for the young or old, the
rich or poor. It takes regardless of class. Young people, middle-aged people, old people, everyone
can die. Why should he think he will be spared?
The man answers that the disciple doesn’t understand him, that he doesn’t bemoan the death of
beastly sinners, just that he is not ready to die. He doesn’t cry about death itself, but that he will
suffer after death, for he lived for the worldly pleasures instead of trying to live well. He left the way
of truth and did wrong. He did not know the way of God and has sinned horribly. And now death has
come like a running messenger, like a ship sailing in the waves with a keel that leaves no trace, like
the invisible path of a bird in the sky, like how an arrow splits the air which is closed immediately
after it splits it so man cannot know where it went. The man is consumed by wickedness, and his
speech is bitter. He wishes he could be like he was when she was young and strong, but time has run
1
Subheaders aren’t in the text
2
I know the speaking character is technically not Hoccleve but for convenience’s sake I am calling him that
3
You always have to learn how to stop before you learn how to go, I guess.
4
“To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.”
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