by Whitman · Cluster: Vanitas · Contemptus Mundi · Vanity of Worldly Things
Abstract
A brief lyric questioning whether a sudden divine gleam has revealed the nothingness of worldly business, wealth and fashion; a vanitas-tinged meditation.
Connections
Topoi: Vanitas Motifs: Money and Gold Themes & Concepts: Vanity of Worldly Things, Divine Love Forms & Genres: Lyric
Testo integrale / Full text
Cluster: BY THE ROADSIDE
Hast never come to thee an hour,
A sudden gleam divine, precipitating, bursting all these bubbles,
fashions, wealth?
These eager business aims—books, politics, art, amours,
To utter nothingness?