Omnes Vanitas
Alas for ambition's possessor!Alas for the famous and proud!The Isle of Manhattan's best dresserIs wearing a hand-me-down shroud.
The world has forgotten his glory;The wagoner sings on his wain,And Chauncey Depew tells a story,And jackasses laugh in the lane.
Words in this poem
- isle v. t.
- To cause to become an island, or like an island; to surround or encompass; to island.
- dresser n.
- One who dresses; one who put in order or makes ready for use; one who on clothes or ornaments.
- wagoner n.
- One who conducts a wagon; one whose business it is to drive a wagon.
- wain n.
- A four-wheeled vehicle for the transportation of goods, produce, etc.; a wagon. [OE. wain, AS. wægn; akin to D. & G. wagen, OHG. wagan, Icel. & Sw. vagn, Dan. vogn, and E. way. Way, Weigh, and cf. Wagon.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Omnes Vanitas is in the public domain. This text is taken from Shapes of Clay (1903), Project Gutenberg ebook #12658; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Ambrose Bierce, Omnes Vanitas, in Shapes of Clay (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12658, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bierce-shapes-of-clay/omnes-vanitas.html, id L28047.
Form and metre
Omnes Vanitas is 8 lines in 2 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is anapaestic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
See other poems in anapaestic trimeter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABAB possessorA · proudB · dresserA · shroudB
- 2 ABAB gloryA · wainB · storyA · laneB
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against anapaestic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Alas for ambition's possessor! | 9 | ˘/·˘/˘˘/˘ |
| Alas for the famous and proud! | 8 | ˘/··/˘·· |
| The Isle of Manhattan's best dresser | 9 | ···˘/˘·/˘ |
| Is wearing a hand-me-down shroud. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The world has forgotten his glory; | 9 | ···˘/˘·/˘ |
| The wagoner sings on his wain, | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| And Chauncey Depew tells a story, | 9 | ·/˘˘/··/˘ |
| And jackasses laugh in the lane. | 8 | ·/·˘···· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.