Eulogy Examples

A eulogy is a speech or writing done to praise a person and his/her life. Eulogies are often given at funerals.

William Basse's "On Mr. William Shakespeare":

Renowned Spenser, lie a thought more nigh
To learned Chaucer, and rare Beumont lie
A Little nearer Spenser to make room
For Shakespeare in your threefold, fourfold tomb.
Betwixt this day and that by fait be slain . . .
Sleep rare tragedian Shakespeare, sleep alone,
That unto us and others it may be
Honor hereafter to be laid by thee.

Walt Whitmans' "O, Captain, My Captain!" written about Abraham Lincoln:

O Captain! My Captain! Our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won.
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;
But O heart! heart! heart!

From Mona Simpson's "A Sister's Eulogy for Steve Jobs":
His breathing changed. It became severe, deliberate, purposeful. I could feel him counting his steps again, pushing farther than before.

This is what I learned: he was working at this, too. Death didn't happen to Steve, he achieved it.

He told me, when he was saying goodbye and telling me he was sorry, so sorry we wouldn't be able to be old together as we'd always planned, that he was going to a better place.

Dr. Fischer gave him a 50/50 chance of making it through the night.

He made it through the night, Laurene next to him on the bed sometimes jerked up when there was a longer pause between his breaths. She and I looked at each other, then he would heave a deep breath and begin again.

This had to be done. Even now, he had a stern, still handsome profile, the profile of an absolutist, a romantic. His breath indicated an arduous journey, some steep path, altitude.

He seemed to be climbing.

--Delivered at the funeral for Steve Jobs, Published subsequently by The New York Times