Carpe diem returning to the normal and normative behaviors of Mesopotamian society." In Horace, the phrase is part of the longer , which can be translated as "Seize the day, put very little trust in tomorrow (the future)". The ode says that the future is unforeseen and that one should not leave to chance future happenings, but rather one should do all one can today to make one's future better. This phrase is usually understood against Horace's Epicurean background. The meaning of as used by Horace is not to ignore the future, but rather not to trust that everything is going to
The Well Wrought Urn that he is an extreme example of what all good poetry exemplifies, namely, paradox. Brooks does this by comparing the symbolic imagery of Donne's verse with that of Shakespeare in "Macbeth". In order to prove that the language of poetry is paradox, he must treat poems that have traditionally been thought straightforward. He takes Herrick's poem, "Corinna's going a-Maying", and reveals that the speaker in the poem has a complex attitude toward his "carpe diem" theme. In doing so, Brooks brings up another central tenet of his critical theory, one which he will deal with more explicitly in the coming