Summary of the poem “On the Vanity of Earthly
Greatness”:
The main theme of this poem is that it’s useless to be proud of our earthly
greatness and achievements. These things aren't permanent. The only permanent
thing is ‘Time’. Everything else including our earthly
greatness and achievements has to bow before time.
This poem describes what happens to powerful people and animals after they die.
It shows how greatness anything is, anyway it continues only for a short time.
The poet has presented certain examples, which all prove the same thing.
Mastodon tusks are turned to billiard balls, bears are turned into rugs, the
sword of great king becomes rusted and the great rulers are turned into statues
and busts (half or broken or ruined statue). In the final line, the poet
indicates that his own greatness will also be short lived.
