|
|
|
Classic and Contemporary Poetry
A SERIOUS REFLECTION ON HUMAN LIFE, SELECTION, by HENRY BAKER
First Line: How vain is man! How foolish are his ways!
Last Line: "and make out one continued scene of woe."
Subject(s): Life; Pessimism; Transience; Impermanence
First Line: How vain is man! How foolish are his ways!
Last Line: "and make out one continued scene of woe."
Subject(s): Life; Pessimism; Transience; Impermanence
"How vain is Man! how foolish are his ways!
How short, and yet how sorrowful, his days!
From life's first moment to its latest date,
A painful, careful, miserable state!
Languid as sunshine on a winter's day,
Its worthless joys, scarce tasted, haste away:
But grief, and labour, everlasting flow,
And make out one continued scene of woe."
Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!
Other Poems of Interest...
FROM THE SPANISH by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON
CHAMBER MUSIC: 17 by JAMES JOYCE
SOUTHERN GOTHIC by DONALD JUSTICE
THE BEACH IN AUGUST by WELDON KEES
THE MAN SPLITTING WOOD IN THE DAYBREAK by GALWAY KINNELL