It is not growing like a tree in bulk, doth make Man better be,

 

Or standing long an oak, three hundred year, To fall a log at last, dry, bald, and sere:

 

A lily of a day

 

is fairer far in May,

 

Although it fall and die that night

 

It was the plant and flower of light.

 

In small proportions we just beauties see, And in short measures life may perfect be.

 

-Ben Jonson

 

QUESTIONS Copy

 

1. What is common between a man and a tree?

 

2. How does the poet draw contrast between an oak and a lily?

 

3. Why does the poet say that the life of a lily is more meaningful than that of an oak?

 

4. What, according to the poet, makes a life perfect?

 

5. What is the theme of the poem?