# Tempora Mutantur explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by Ambrose Bierce.

## What happens

The narrator laments the dullness of the modern world and longs for the myths and fables of ancient Greece, calling upon Father Time to restore the old gods. Upon speaking, Fate responds, and the narrator looks up to see the Gorgon sisters—Medusa, Stheno, and Euryale—but finds them aged and entirely bald, deflating the romanticized vision of antiquity.

## Themes in this chapter

### Nature and Artifice

The contrast between the idealized, mythic past (nature) and the bald, aged reality of the Gorgons (artifice/decay) highlights the tension between romanticized nature and unvarnished truth.

## Character check-ins

### Unknown

The narrator expresses despair over the world's dullness and invokes Father Time to restore ancient myths.

## Key lines

> The world is dull,” I cried in my despair: “Its myths and fables are no longer fair.

The narrator laments that the modern world lacks the beauty and wonder of ancient myths.

_Opening lines set the tone of disillusionment with the present._

> Lifting my eyes, I saw Medusa stand, Stheno, Euryale, on either hand. I gazed unpetrified and unappalled⁠— The girls had aged and were entirely bald!

The narrator sees the Gorgons but finds them old and bald, so they no longer have the power to turn him to stone.

_The punchline subverts the myth, emphasizing the theme of aging and loss of mythical power._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se/chapters/tempora-mutantur
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se/chapters