Poetry · Chapter
XIII explained
The chapter reflects on the ephemeral nature of beauty, comparing it to a fleeting gloss, a short-lived flower, and brittle glass that breaks easily.
What happens
The chapter reflects on the ephemeral nature of beauty, comparing it to a fleeting gloss, a short-lived flower, and brittle glass that breaks easily. It argues that once beauty is blemished, it is lost forever, beyond any remedy or restoration.
Free preview opens on this chapter — companions, themes, and character notes appear beside the text.
Narrative arc
Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Exposition.
- Setup
- Escalation
- Breaking point
- Aftermath
- Closing
This is the dramatic climax because the speaker reaches an emotional and psychological peak of self-aware torm…
Full beat labels and climax notes unlock in the reader.
Follow the arc while readingThemes in this chapter
- Beauty and Transience
The chapter explicitly dwells on beauty as a 'vain and doubtful good' that fades and breaks irreparably, emphasizing its transient and fragile nature.
Key passages
“Beauty is but a vain and doubtful good; A shining gloss that vadeth suddenly; A flower that dies when first it gins to bud; A brittle glass that’s broken presently: A doubtful good, a gloss, a glass, a flower, Lost, vaded, broken, dead within an hour.”
Beauty is an empty and uncertain quality, like a shiny surface that quickly tarnishes, a flower that dies as soon as it begins to bloom, or fragile glass that shatters instantly. It is a dubious benefit, a sheen, a pane, a blossom—all gone, tarnished, shattered, dead in less than an hour.
The speaker uses a series of metaphors to illustrate beauty's fleeting and fragile nature.
“And as goods lost are seld or never found, As vaded gloss no rubbing will refresh, As flowers dead lie wither’d on the ground, As broken glass no cement can redress, So beauty blemish’d once’s forever lost, In spite of physic, painting, pain and cost.”
Just as lost possessions are rarely or never recovered, a tarnished shine cannot be restored by polishing, dead flowers lie withered on the ground, and broken glass cannot be mended by any glue, so beauty, once marred, is permanently lost, regardless of medicine, cosmetics, effort, or expense.
The speaker argues that beauty, once damaged, is irreparable, no matter what remedies are attempted.
