Here lies the body of this world,
Whose soul alas to hell is hurled.
This golden youth long since was past,
Its silver manhood went as fast,
An iron age drew on at last;
‘Tis vain its character to tell,
The several fates which it befell,
What year it died, when ’twill arise,
We only know that here it lies.
Epitaph On The World
Analysis, meaning and summary of Henry David Thoreau's poem Epitaph On The World
2 Comments
Leave a Reply to Sean Irving Cancel reply
Do you have any comments, criticism, paraphrasis or analysis of this poem that you feel would assist other visitors in understanding the meaning or the theme of this poem by Henry David Thoreau better? If accepted, your analysis will be added to this page of American Poems. Together we can build a wealth of information, but it will take some discipline and determination.
This peom makes me think of the future and those that may reflect on the days of today and relate this peom to these days and all that our futures will hold, of which we do not know.
Being of an environmental background, I was immediately prompted to think of the earth as it is today. Being of a somewhat pessimistic nature (although I desperately try not to be), I thought this poem tells greatly of the situation of the world today. Not that it is dying so much but that maybe their is a something happening to it and/or to us that we can’t explain. Perhaps we are falling towards something that we know not of, but we are too busy doing other things to really notice.