Why Do You Strive for Greatness, Fool?
Why Do You Strive for Greatness, Fool? - meaning Summary
Ambition Humbled by Simplicity
The poem rebukes grand ambition and recommends humble acceptance. The speaker calls a striving figure "fool," urging a simple act—pluck a bough and wear it—as enough. He contrasts proud "barbarians" who treat the heavens like ornaments with his own awkward desire to match them, admitting social or spiritual inferiority. The repeated refrain collapses pretension into a modest token, framing contentment and simplicity as a wiser alternative to vain striving.
Read Complete AnalysesWhy do you strive for greatness, fool? Go pluck a bough and wear it. It is as sufficing. My Lord, there are certain barbarians Who tilt their noses As if the stars were flowers, And Thy servant is lost among their shoe-buckles. Fain would I have mine eyes even with their eyes. Fool, go pluck a bough and wear it.
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