Man, who wert once a despot and a slave, A dupe and a deceiver! a decay, A traveller from the cradle to the grave Through the dim night of this immortal day.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Humanity has decayed from a powerful or innocent state into a journey of death through the darkness of life.
- In plain terms
- Humans used to be powerful but have decayed into a dark journey toward death.
- What can you take from it?
- Human history is a decline from power to decay.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Have humans declined?
- What was our original state?
Another view
The characterization of humanity as originally a despot or slave is historically ambiguous.
More from Percy Bysshe Shelley
Soul meets soul on lovers' lips.
Permalink to quote #80 This is the day, which down the void abysm At the Earth-born's spell yawns for Heaven's despotism And Conquest is dragged captive through the deep: Love, from …
Permalink to quote #82 Familiar acts are beautiful through love.
Permalink to quote #79
Related quotes
I like to think how easily Nature will absorb London as she absorbed the mastodon, setting her spiders to spin the winding-sheet and her worms to fill in the g…
Edward ThomasEdward Thomas quote #4 Behind every man now alive stand 30 ghosts, for that is the ratio by which the dead outnumber the living.
Arthur C. ClarkeArthur C. Clarke quote #11 There is no reason for amazement: surely one always knew that cultures decay, and life's end is death.
Robinson JeffersRobinson Jeffers quote #12