Summary

The poem begins with Rosamund's "ghost," or soul, emerging from Hell (2). She expresses pity for herself, her sad circumstances, and her shame, which has "staine(d)" her forever (4). Her body is in her grave, but her sin is still visible to everyone.

Furthermore, she tells the speaker, her soul will never come to Heaven. She cannot be purified or join the "gardens of the blessed" (11). The Greek god Chiron will not take her across the river until she pays a penalty of "lovers' sighs on earth" (14).

This, she complains, is impossible. Because of the passage of time, she has been forgotten. No one mourns her anymore. All that is left to her is her name, "Rosamund," and that has been disgraced (20).

No muse remembers how pitiful her circumstances are, and all writers pass her over. Some, far more sinful than she was, are remembered...