Carpe diem will someday die. It is medieval Latin, dating to 1287. Related but distinct is the expression "memento mori" (remember that you are mortal) which carries some of the same connotation as . For Horace, mindfulness of our own mortality is key in making us realize the importance of the moment. "Remember that you are mortal, so seize the day." Over time the phrase also came to be associated with penitence, as suggested in many vanitas paintings. Today many listeners will take the two phrases as representing almost opposite approaches, with urging us to savour life and urging us to resist
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