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RANDOM / CONVERSATION Carpe Diem : Sieze the Day Carpe diem is a phrase from a Latin poem by Horace that has become an aphorism. It popularly translated as “seize the day”. Carpe literally means “to pick, pluck, pluck off, cull, crop, gather”, Ovid used the word in the sense, “to enjoy, seize, use, make use of”. In Bread, the phrase is part of the longer Carpe diem quam minimum credula postero “Seize the Day, putting as little trust as possible in the future”, and the ode says that the future is unforeseen, and that instead one should scale back one’s hopes to a very brief future, and drink one’s wine. This phrase is usually understood against Horace’s Epicurean background. Collige, virgo, rosas “gather, girl, the roses” appears at the end of the poem De rosis nascentibus (also called Idyllium de rosis) attributed to Ausonius or Virgil. It encourages youth to enjoy life before it is too late; compare Gather Rosebuds While Ye May from To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time. Nunc est bibendum “now is the time to drink” from the Odes of Horace: Nunc est bibendum, nunc pede libero pulsanda tellus “Now is the time to drink, now the time to dance footloose upon the earth.” De Brevitate Vitae (“On the Shortness of Life”), often referred to as Gaudeamus igitur, (“Let us rejoice”) is a popular academic commercium song, on taking joy in student life, with the knowledge that one will someday die. It is medieval Latin, dating to 1287. Then Horace himself parodies the phrase in another of his poems, ‘The town mouse and the country mouse’. He uses the phrase carpe viam meaning ‘seize the road’ to compare the two different attitudes to life of a person (or in this case, a mouse) living in a city and in the countryside. Related but distinct is the expression memento mori (“remember that you are mortal” which carries some of the same connotation as carpe diem. For Horace, mindfulness of our own mortality is key in making us realize the importance of the moment. “Remember that you are mortal, so seize the day.” Over time the phrase memento mori also came to be associated with penitence, as suggested in many vanitas paintings. Today many
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listeners will take the two phrases as representing almost opposite approaches, with ‘carpe diem’ urging us to savour life and ‘memento mori’ urging us to resist its allure. This is not the original sense of the memento mori phrase as used by Horace. Though Similarly, ubi sunt – “where are they now?” invokes transience and meditation on death, but is not an exhortation to action. Compare Dead Poets Society, where a trophy case filled with pictures of long-dead boys (“these boys are now fertilizing daffodils”) leads to an invocation of carpe diem. John Keating, a character played by Robin Williams in the film Dead Poets Society says, “Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary.” The American Film Institute ranked this line number 95 in its list of the 100 best quotations in American film history, and the phrase was also the title of a soundtrack in the movie. In the Oscarwinning short Harvie Krumpet, Harvie’s empty life is changed completely when he sees the inscription underneath a statue of Horace, prompting him to seize the day and do as he pleases forever. Carpe Diem is the name of a song by Authority Zero. Seize the Day is name of a song by American metal band Avenged Sevenfold, from their 2005 album City of Evil. ‘Carpe Diem Baby’ is name of a song by American heavy metal band Metallica, from their 1997 album ReLoad. ‘Carpe Diem’ is name of a song by American progressive metalcore band August Burns Red, from their 2011 album Leveler. Carpe Diem is the name of Japanese rock band Aqua Timez’s 2011 album, and is the name of a song by punk rock band Green Day. The song A Change of Seasons by Dream Theater also references the concept of Carpe Diem, and quotes the aforementioned painting Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May. American Alternative metal band Egypt Central used the term in their song Change from their 2011 album White Rabbit.“We are food for worms, lads,” announces John Keating, the unorthodox English teacher played by Robin Williams in the 1989 film Dead Poets Society. “Believe it or not,” he tells his students, “each and every one of us in this room is one day going to stop breathing, turn cold, and die.” The rallying cry of their classroom is “carpe diem,” popularized as “seize the day,” although more literally translated as “pluck the day,” referring to the gathering of moments like flowers, suggesting the ephemeral quality of life, as in Robert Herrick’s “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time,” which begs readers to live life to its full potential, singing of the fleeting nature of life itself. Various permutations of the phrase appear in other ancient works of verse, including the expression “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die,” which is derived from the Biblical book of Isaiah. At the close of “De rosis nascentibus,” a poem attributed to both Ausonius and Virgil, the phrase “collige, virgo, rosas” appears, meaning “gather, girl, the roses.” The expression urges the young to go live. To get outdoors and make the most of the time we have. In this case 24 hours.
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