# The Golden Age explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by Ambrose Bierce.

## What happens

A nostalgic poem reflecting on a lost golden age when virtue, truth, honor, and beauty flourished, contrasting with the present world of corruption and woe. The speaker recalls a time of wise sages, angelic women, and hopeful mornings, lamenting the inevitable decline and his own distant youth.

## Themes in this chapter

### Hypocrisy and Corruption

The poem contrasts a past of virtue and honor with a present where 'robber, miser, and maligner' have been created, implying a fall into corruption.

### Mortality and Regret

The speaker mourns the loss of a finer world and his own youth, with foreboding of 'tempest' and 'woe,' reflecting on the passage of time and inevitable decline.

## Character check-ins

### Unknown

The speaker who nostalgically recalls the golden age of his youth.

## Key lines

> Long ago the world was finer— Why it failed I do not know: All the virtues were diviner; Robber, miser, and maligner Had not been created.

In the distant past, the world was better; I don't understand why it changed. Virtues were more noble, and wicked people like thieves, misers, and slanderers did not exist.

_The speaker laments a lost era of moral purity, now replaced by corruption._

> Ah, the miracle of morning. Setting all the world aglow Like a smile of light adorning God’s own face, held no forewarning Of the tempest that would blow— Sign and prophecy of woe, Long ago.

The beautiful dawn, which made the world shine like a smile on God's face, gave no hint of the coming storm—a sign of future sorrow, long ago.

_The idyllic past held no warning of the disaster to come, emphasizing the theme of lost innocence._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se/chapters/the-golden-age
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se/chapters