Everything comes to an end. The ideas of limitations and absoluteness, infinity and ephemeralness, have been questioned since the time of the Ancient Greeks. These opposing ideas mainly appeared through the focuses on immortality and mortality; life and death. Some believed that beauty was truly immortal. Things such as art, love, and even blood lines (mainly considering royalty) were considered beautiful and grand because they existed longer than a lifetime. Philosophers such as Socrates have supported this idea. Socrates viewed love as humanity’s attempt to achieve immortality, a feat that overcomes physical impossibilities.
The opposing idea, which the poem appears to follow, is that beauty is fleeting. It can only exist in limited periods of time. Many poets and romanticists, such as William Shakespeare believed in this idea. In his sonnets, Shakespeare discussed that death, in fact, makes life greater because it (death) ends it (life). Because life is limited by death, one must make their best of it, and enjoy what is has to offer. Without death, life loses it beauty, and becomes dry and sorrowful.
The idea of memory, however, treads the line between the differing views on infinity or temporariness. A memory is something that can last a lifetime, or can persist through time if it is somehow recorded (a diary, biography, painting, etc.). The thing that is remembered, nonetheless, is stuck in time. It is finite. The poet of “The Argument Resumed” shows that beauty must be finite, that something beautiful can only exist temporarily, and that it can only be enjoyed momentarily because of its connection to memory. The key line from the latter half of the poem is “How shall it bear repeating?”. “It”, here, refers to any beautiful moment, event or thing. The poet uses basic logic to argue that if something beautiful lasts forever, how is it possible for humans to recall it multiple times? The poet discusses that true beauty and glory exists in bursts or short periods of time. It is possible for these short bursts to reinstate that sensation of magnificence any time in the future.
I cannot help but finding myself in agreement with the poet. If beautiful things were everlasting, how would we possibly enjoy anything else? How would it be possible to ever return to any singular, truly enjoyed and cherished piece of time?
