Vanitas Vanitatum
How spake of old the Royal Seer?(His text is one I love to treat on.)This life of ours he said is sheerMataiotes Mataioteton.
O Student of this gilded Book,Declare, while musing on its pages,If truer words were ever spokeBy ancient, or by modern sages!
The various authors' names but note,French, Spanish, English, Russians, Germans:And in the volume polyglot,Sure you may read a hundred sermons!
What histories of life are here,More wild than all romancers' stories;What wondrous transformations queer,What homilies on human glories!
What theme for sorrow or for scorn!What chronicle of Fate's surprises--Of adverse fortune nobly borne,Of chances, changes, ruins, rises!
Of thrones upset, and sceptres broke,How strange a record here is written!Of honors, dealt as if in joke;Of brave desert unkindly smitten.
How low men were, and how they rise!How high they were, and how they tumble!O vanity of vanities!O laughable, pathetic jumble!
Here between honest Janin's jokeAnd his Turk Excellency's firman,I write my name upon the book:I write my name--and end my sermon.
O Vanity of vanities!How wayward the decrees of Fate are;How very weak the very wise,How very small the very great are!
What mean these stale moralities,Sir Preacher, from your desk you mumble?Why rail against the great and wise,And tire us with your ceaseless grumble?
Pray choose us out another text,O man morose and narrow-minded!Come turn the page--I read the next,And then the next, and still I find it.
Read here how Wealth aside was thrust,And Folly set in place exalted;How Princes footed in the dust,While lackeys in the saddle vaulted.
Though thrice a thousand years are past,Since David's son, the sad and splendid,The weary King Ecclesiast,Upon his awful tablets penned it,--
Methinks the text is never stale,And life is every day renewingFresh comments on the old old taleOf Folly, Fortune, Glory, Ruin.
Hark to the Preacher, preaching stillHe lifts his voice and cries his sermon,Here at St. Peter's of Cornhill,As yonder on the Mount of Hermon;
For you and me to heart to take(O dear beloved brother readers)To-day as when the good King spakeBeneath the solemn Syrian cedars.
Words in this poem 18
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- polyglot a.
- Containing, or made up, of, several languages; as, a polyglot lexicon, Bible. [Gr. polyglotte.]
- wondrous adv.
- In a wonderful or surprising manner or degree; wonderfully. [OE. wonders, adv. (later also adj.). See Wonder, n., and cf. -wards.]
- nobly adv.
- Of noble extraction; as, nobly born or descended.
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
- unkindly a.
- Not kindly; unkind; ungracious.
- pathetic a.
- Expressing or showing anger; passionate. [L. patheticus, Gr. pathétique. See Pathos.]
- turk n.
- A member of any of numerous Tartar tribes of Central Asia, etc.; esp., one of the dominant race in Turkey. [Per. Turk; probably of Tartar origin: cf. F. Turc.]
- sermon n.
- A discourse or address; a talk; a writing; as, the sermens of Chaucer. [OE. sermoun, sermun, F. sermon, fr. L. sermo, - onis, a speaking, discourse, probably fr. serer, sertum, to join, connect; hence, a connected speech. See Series]
- wayward a.
- Taking one's own way; disobedient; froward; perverse; willful. [OE. weiward, for aweiward, i. e., turned away. See Away, and -ward.]
- mumble v. t.
- To speak with the lips partly closed, so as to render the sounds inarticulate and imperfect; to utter words in a grumbling indistinct manner, indicating discontent or displeasure; to mutter. [OE. momelen; cf. D. mompelen, mommelen, G. mummelen, Sw. mumla, Dan. mumle. Cf. Mum, a., Mumm, Mump, v.]
- ceaseless a.
- Without pause or end; incessant.
- grumble v. i.
- To murmur or mutter with discontent; to make ill-natured complaints in a low voice and a surly manner. [Cf. LG. grummeln, grumman, D. grommelen, grommen, and F. grommeler, of German origin; cf. W. grwm, murmur, grumble, surly. sq. root35. Cf. Grum, Grim.]
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- ecclesiast n.
- An ecclesiastic.
- penned a.
- Winged; having plumes.
- methinks v.
- It seems to me; I think. See Me. [AS. þyncan to seem, me þynceedh, me þuhte, OE. me thinketh, me thoughte; akin to G. dünken to seem, denken to think, and E. think. See Me, and Think.]
- yonder adv.
- At a distance, but within view. [OE. yonder, ýonder; cf. OD. ginder, Goth. jaindr there. Yond, adv.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Vanitas Vanitatum is in the public domain. This text is taken from Ballads, Project Gutenberg ebook #2732; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanitas Vanitatum, in Ballads (1849–1855), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #2732, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/thackeray-ballads/vanitas-vanitatum.html, id L10436.
Form and metre
Vanitas Vanitatum is 64 lines in 16 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 10 of its 16 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.4 syllables. 31 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 12% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 A-A- seerA · on · sheerA · mataioteton
- 2 -A-A book · pagesA · spoke · sagesA
- 3 ABAB noteA · germansB · polyglotA · sermonsB
- 4 ABAB hereA · storiesB · queerA · gloriesB
- 5 ABAB scornA · surprisesB · borneA · risesB
- 6 ABAB brokeA · writtenB · jokeA · smittenB
- 7 ABAB riseA · tumbleB · vanitiesA · jumbleB
- 8 -A-A joke · firmanA · book · sermonA
- 9 ABAB vanitiesA · areB · wiseA · areB
- 10 ABAB moralitiesA · mumbleB · wiseA · grumbleB
- 11 A-A- textA · minded · nextA · it
- 12 ABAB thrustA · exaltedB · dustA · vaultedB
- 13 A-A- pastA · splendid · ecclesiastA · it
- 14 A-A- staleA · renewing · taleA · ruin
- 15 ABAB stillA · sermonB · cornhillA · hermonB
- 16 ABAB takeA · readersB · spakeA · cedarsB
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 iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| How spake of old the Royal Seer? | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| (His text is one I love to treat on.) | 9 | ········· |
| This life of ours he said is sheer | 8 | ···/···· |
| Mataiotes Mataioteton. | 6 | ······ |
| O Student of this gilded Book, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Declare, while musing on its pages, | 9 | ˘/·/˘··/˘ |
| If truer words were ever spoke | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| By ancient, or by modern sages! | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| The various authors' names but note, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| French, Spanish, English, Russians, Germans: | 9 | ·/˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| And in the volume polyglot, | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| Sure you may read a hundred sermons! | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| What histories of life are here, | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| More wild than all romancers' stories; | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| What wondrous transformations queer, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| What homilies on human glories! | 9 | ·/˘˘·/˘/˘ |
| What theme for sorrow or for scorn! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| What chronicle of Fate's surprises-- | 9 | ·/˘˘··˘/˘ |
| Of adverse fortune nobly borne, | 8 | ·/·/˘/˘· |
| Of chances, changes, ruins, rises! | 9 | ·/˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| Of thrones upset, and sceptres broke, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| How strange a record here is written! | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Of honors, dealt as if in joke; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Of brave desert unkindly smitten. | 9 | ··˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| How low men were, and how they rise! | 8 | ········ |
| How high they were, and how they tumble! | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| O vanity of vanities! | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘˘ |
| O laughable, pathetic jumble! | 9 | ·/˘˘˘/˘/˘ |
| Here between honest Janin's joke | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And his Turk Excellency's firman, | 8 | ···//˘/˘ |
| I write my name upon the book: | 8 | ········ |
| I write my name--and end my sermon. | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| O Vanity of vanities! | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘˘ |
| How wayward the decrees of Fate are; | 9 | ·/˘·˘/··· |
| How very weak the very wise, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| How very small the very great are! | 9 | ·/˘··/˘·· |
| What mean these stale moralities, | 8 | ····˘/˘˘ |
| Sir Preacher, from your desk you mumble? | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| Why rail against the great and wise, | 8 | ········ |
| And tire us with your ceaseless grumble? | 9 | ·/···/˘/˘ |
| Pray choose us out another text, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| O man morose and narrow-minded! | 9 | ··˘/·/˘/˘ |
| Come turn the page--I read the next, | 8 | ········ |
| And then the next, and still I find it. | 9 | ········· |
| Read here how Wealth aside was thrust, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| And Folly set in place exalted; | 9 | ·/˘···˘/˘ |
| How Princes footed in the dust, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| While lackeys in the saddle vaulted. | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Though thrice a thousand years are past, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Since David's son, the sad and splendid, | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| The weary King Ecclesiast, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| Upon his awful tablets penned it,-- | 9 | ···/˘/˘·· |
| Methinks the text is never stale, | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| And life is every day renewing | 9 | ···/˘·˘/˘ |
| Fresh comments on the old old tale | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Of Folly, Fortune, Glory, Ruin. | 9 | ·/˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| Hark to the Preacher, preaching still | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| He lifts his voice and cries his sermon, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Here at St. Peter's of Cornhill, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| As yonder on the Mount of Hermon; | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| For you and me to heart to take | 8 | ········ |
| (O dear beloved brother readers) | 8 | ··˘//˘/˘ |
| To-day as when the good King spake | 8 | ········ |
| Beneath the solemn Syrian cedars. | 9 | ···/˘/˘/˘ |
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.