On The Vanity Of Earthly Greatness - Grade 11 - The Magic Of Words.

Grade 11 all Summary and answer.

                      

On the Vanity of Earthly Greatness

Point to understand

• The speaker in the poem mentions that everything is changeable in the world.

•     He says that it is futile to be proud of worldly greatness.

•     He talks about vanity of human greatness.

•     Everything in the world perishable.

•The great and powerful persons and object will be worthless and useless.

• In the passage of time, powerful, great, brave person becomes the subject to worthlessness.

•     Nothing is stable and constant in the world.

•     Our sense of greatness is momentary.

• Even the great emperor becomes worthless in the passage of time.

•     Powerful time has brought many changes in the world.

•     In front of time, the worldly things and powerful people become useless and worthless.

•     The powerful tusk of mastodons has become just the playthings.

•     The shining sword of great emperor, Charlemagne, has been rusted.

•     The terrible grizzly bear of the past has now been turned into a mere rug.

•     The great Roman emperor Julius Caesar has now been kept into the shelf as an object of decoration.

•     The powerful people come and go in the course of time.

Summary

In “On the Vanity of Earthly Greatness”, the poet describes the changes the powerful time has brought to different people and objects. The tusks of mastodons that fought powerful fights in the past have now become just the playthings. The shining sword of the brave warrior and Emperor Charlemagne has now been rusted. The fearful grizzly bear of the past has now been turned into a mere rug. The powerful and great Roman General Julius Caesar has now been confined into a shelf as an object of decoration. This shows that the power and greatness of today will be worthless in the future. Realizing this fact, the poet also seems worried.

This poem makes us realize the remorselessness of time and the vanity of human greatness. We generally do not think that the great and powerful persons and objects will turn to be worthless one day. Most people in the world are proud of their greatness, power and possessions which are actually futile. With the passage of time, every powerful, great, Honorable, precious and beautiful object or being becomes the subject of death, decay, ugliness and worthlessness. Nothing is constant and everlasting on earth. Everything is changeable and subject it death and decay. Every one of us will die either sooner or later. The powerful wheel of time turns everything's into the worthless dust. The greatness, honour preciousness, power, achievements, beauty, adventures etc. are momentary. With the passage of time, they all turn to be futile, meaningless, and worthless and trifle. Thus, the poem is ironical. The unawareness of the human beings about the vanity of earthly greatness is portrayed through irony.

 1.Summaries the poem "On the Vanity of Earthly Greatness" on one Sentence.

Or, Write the main/ central idea or theme of the poem in one sentence.

Or, Write a summary of the poem 'On the Vanity Of Earthly Greatness'.

  ·   As the tusk of the powerful mastodons brave become just the playthings; the shining sword of brave emperor Charlemagne have now rusted; the fearful grizzly bear has turned into a rug and the great Roman General Caesar's bust is on the shelf, similarly, all the greatness of human begins and animals become worthless with the passage of time.

  2.  What changes to people and objects are described in the poem "On the Vanity of Earthly Greatness"?

Or, What is Vanity involved in the poem "On the vanity of Earthly Greatness"?

   ·      In "On the vanity of Earthly Greatness", the poet describes the changes the powerful time has bought to different people and objects. The tusks of mastodons that fought powerful fights in the past have now become just the playthings. The shining sword of brave warrior an emperor Charlemagne has now rusted. The awful grizzly bear of the past has now been turned into a rug. The powerful and great Roman General Caesar is now confined into a shelf. This makes us realise the remorselessness of time and the vanity of human greatness. Every powerful being or thing becomes worthless with the passage of time.

  3.  What four things does the poet mention in the poem "Vanity of Earthly Greatness"?

  ·The four things poet mentions in the poem "Vanity Greatness" are as follow:

i)The tusk of the powerful mastodons has become just the play things.

ii)The shining sword of Charlemagne has now rusted.

iii)   The fearful grizzly bear has turned into a rug.

iv) The Greek Roman General Caesar's bust is on the self as decorative things.

   4.  What are the different Example used by the poet to show the vanity of earthly greatness?

  ·      The different example used by the poet to show the vanity of early greatness and mastodons' tusks, the sword of Charlemagne the just, the grizzly bear's hug and fame of Julius Caesar. These things lost their value immediately after the death of concerned people.

  5.  How is human vanity laughed at in the poem "On the Vanity of Earthly Greatness"?

 ü We generally do not think that the great and powerful person and object will turn to be worthless, one day. Most people in the world are proud of their greatness, power and possession which are actually  futile. With the passage of time, the powerful tusks of mastodons have become playthings and the mighty shining sword of brave warrior and emperor Charlemagne has been rusted. The fearful grizzly bear has turned to a mere rug and Julius Caesar's greatness and honour has been confined into a shelf. Thus, the poem makes fun of the earthly greatness. They are unaware of the fact that every powerful, great, honorable, rich and beautiful object or being becomes the subject of death, decay, ugliness and worthlessness. Thus, the poem is ironical.