...obscure; Nor grandeur hear with a disdainful smile The short and simple annals of the poor. The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r, And all that beauty,...alike th' inevitable hour. The paths of glory lead but to the grave. Did you notice that the quatrains are almost all self-contained? But how different...

...(1955) The title is taken from the Thomas Gray poem Elegy Written in a Country Church-yard: "The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r, / And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, / Awaits alike th'inevitable hour. / The paths of glory lead but to the grave." Based loosely on the true story of...

..."Mortality" by William Knox, Lincoln's favorite poem The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, Awaits alike th' inevitable hour: The paths of glory lead but to the grave. — From "Elegy in a Country Church Yard" by Thomas Gray, Edison's favorite poem...