Once There Was a Man
Once There Was a Man - meaning Summary
Disillusion with Certainty
The poem sketches a brief narrative of growing disillusionment. A man once thought wise comes to perceive only bitterness in taste and pain in touch, losing faith in life, joy, and suffering. His final cry dismisses experience as mere "opinion," an assertion that collapses meaning into subjective judgement and then rejects even that. The poem registers skepticism about certainty and the limits of perception.
Read Complete AnalysesOnce there was a man - Oh, so wise! In all drink He detected the bitter, And in all touch He found the sting. At last he cried thus: 'There is nothing - No life, No joy, No pain - There is nothing save opinion, And opinion be damned.'
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