Question

Poetry and art defy mortality . 'the powerful rhyme ' is immortal but 'not marbles nor the gilded monuments'. Justify the statement and also the title of the poem.

Answer 1

Poetry and art are immortal in the sense that they continue to live from one generation to another in the from of books and memories scattered in different parts of the world. However, buildings, statues, and gilded monuments are fixed on a particular place. Owing to their large size and immovability, they become an easy target of enemy artillery and cannons during war. But art lives on forever in the memories of people who dying hand them over to the next generations. The title of the poem 'Not Marble, nor the Gilded Monuments' aptly alludes to the mortality of material things such as statues, monuments, etc.