Vanitas Vanitatum
This vile worldIn madness hurledOffers but false shadows;Joys that waneAnd waste like vainLilies of the meadows.
Worldly wealth,Youth, strength, and health,Cramp the soul's endeavour;Drive it downIn hell to drown,Hell that burns for ever.
What we see,And what let be,While on earth we tarry,We shall castLike leaves at lastWhich the sere oaks carry.
Carnal life,Man's law of strife,Hath but brief existence;Passes, fades,Like wavering shadesWithout real subsistence.
Therefore bind,Tread down and grindFleshly lusts that blight us;So heaven's bliss'Mid saints that kissShall for aye delight us.
Words in this poem
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- endeavour v. t.
- To exert physical or intellectual strength for the attainment of; to use efforts to effect; to strive to achieve or reach; to try; to attempt. [OE. endevor; pref. en- + dever, devoir, duty, F. devoir: cf. F. se mettre en devoir de faire quelque chose to try to do a thing, to go about it. See Devoir, Deb]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- sere n.
- Claw; talon. Chapman. [F. serre.]
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Vanitas Vanitatum is in the public domain. This text is taken from Wine, Women, and Song Mediaeval Latin Students' songs; Now first translated into English verse, Project Gutenberg ebook #18044; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Addington Symonds, Vanitas Vanitatum, in Wine, Women and Song (1884), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18044, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/symonds-wine-women/vanitas-vanitatum.html, id L11867.
Form and metre
Vanitas Vanitatum is 30 lines in 5 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABCCB. The metre is trochaic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 4.4 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 37% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic dimeter.
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 AABCCB worldA · hurledA · shadowsB · waneC · vainC · meadowsB
- 2 AABCCB wealthA · healthA · endeavourB · downC · drownC · everB
- 3 AABCCB seeA · beA · tarryB · castC · lastC · carryB
- 4 AABCCB lifeA · strifeA · existenceB · fadesC · shadesC · subsistenceB
- 5 AABCCB bindA · grindA · usB · blissC · kissC · usB
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 trochaic dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| This vile world | 3 | ··· |
| In madness hurled | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Offers but false shadows; | 6 | /˘··/· |
| Joys that wane | 3 | ··· |
| And waste like vain | 4 | ···· |
| Lilies of the meadows. | 6 | /˘··/· |
| Worldly wealth, | 3 | /˘· |
| Youth, strength, and health, | 4 | ···· |
| Cramp the soul's endeavour; | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| Drive it down | 3 | ··· |
| In hell to drown, | 4 | ···· |
| Hell that burns for ever. | 6 | ····/˘ |
| What we see, | 3 | ··· |
| And what let be, | 4 | ···· |
| While on earth we tarry, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| We shall cast | 3 | ··· |
| Like leaves at last | 4 | ···· |
| Which the sere oaks carry. | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Carnal life, | 3 | /˘· |
| Man's law of strife, | 4 | ···· |
| Hath but brief existence; | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| Passes, fades, | 3 | /˘· |
| Like wavering shades | 5 | ·/˘˘· |
| Without real subsistence. | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| Therefore bind, | 3 | ··· |
| Tread down and grind | 4 | ···· |
| Fleshly lusts that blight us; | 6 | /˘···· |
| So heaven's bliss | 4 | ·/˘· |
| 'Mid saints that kiss | 4 | ···· |
| Shall for aye delight us. | 6 | ···˘/· |
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.