QuoteProject
But evil things, in robes of sorrow, Assailed the monarch's high estate; (Ah, let us mourn, for never morrow Shall dawn upon him desolate!) And round about his home the glory That blushed and bloomed, Is but a dim-remembered story Of the old time entombed.
Edgar Allan Poe
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote reflects on the sorrow and inevitable decline of greatness over time.

In this quote, Edgar Allan Poe meditates on the concept of loss and the passage of time, illustrating how even the mightiest of figures can fall into despair and be surrounded by memories of their former glory. It conveys a sense of mourning for what once was, emphasizing that the beauty of past achievements often fades, leaving only remnants in the shadows of memory.

Themes

SorrowLossGloryMemoryTimeDecline

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be used during a eulogy to reflect on the passing of a beloved figure.

More from Edgar Allan Poe

Most writers - poets in especial - prefer having it understood that they compose by a species of fine frenzy - an ecstatic intuition - and would positively shudder at letting the public take a peep behind the scenes.
Edgar Allan PoeRead
...the agony of my soul found vent in one loud, long and final scream of despair.
Edgar Allan PoeRead
Where the good and the bad and the worst and the best have gone to their eternal rest.
Edgar Allan PoeRead
I could have clasped the red walls to my bosom as a garment of eternal peace. "Death," I said, "any death but that of the pit!" Fool! might I have not known that into the pit it was the object of the burning iron to urge me?
Edgar Allan PoeRead
In our endeavors to recall to memory something long forgotten, we often find ourselves upon the very verge of remembrance, without being able, in the end, to remember.
Edgar Allan PoeRead
Thank Heaven! The crisis /The danger is past, and the lingering illness, is over at last /, and the fever called ''Living'' is conquered at last.
Edgar Allan PoeRead

Similar quotes

To put up with what you cannot avoid is a philosophical principle, that may not perhaps lead you to the accomplishment of great deeds, but is assuredly eminently practical.
Jules VerneRead
Each feminist work has tended to be received as if it emerged from nowhere; as if each one of us had lived, thought, and worked without any historical past or contextual present. This is one of the ways in which women's work and thinking has been made to seem sporadic, errant, orphaned of any tradition of its own.
Adrienne RichRead
The soul is an embryo in the body of Man, and the day of death is the Day of awakening, for it is the Great era of labour and the rich Hour of creation.
Khalil GibranRead
Truth is great and will prevail if left to herself.
Thomas JeffersonRead
It is both a right and a responsibility of a democratic society to manage immigration so that it serves the national interest.
Barbara JordanRead
What is the source of all this trouble? I'm saying that the source is basically in thought. Many people would think that such a statement is crazy, because thought is the one thing we have with which to solve our problems. That's part of our tradition.
David BohmRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.