The Sexton's Tale: and Other Poems

The Sexton's Tale: And Other Poems by Theodore Tilton is a mid-19th-century collection of lyric and narrative verse that blends romance, religion, patriotism, and social reflection. The sequence opens with The Sexton’s Tale, a medieval-flavored ballad in which a grave-digger narrator recounts love, faith, and mortality, followed by poems that traverse historic and moral themes. The collection includes patriotic pieces such as The Great Bell Roland and God Save the Nation, urging courage and unity in times of peril, as well as contemplations on nature (The Mystery of Nature), spirituality (The True Church, A Layman’s Confession of Faith), and personal faith (The Lotus Planter). Across religious, political, and intimate landscapes, Tilton probes how conscience, love, courage, and mercy endure amid conflict and change. The work reflects Civil War-era America and a quest for moral clarity through verse.