In bas-relief he late has shown   A horrible show, agreed— Megalosaurus, iguanodon, Palaeotherium Glypthaecon,   A Barnum-show raree;   The vomit of slimy and sludgey sea: Purposeless creatures, odd inchoate things Which splashed thro’ morasses on fleshly wings; The cubs of Chaos, with eyes askance, Preposterous griffins that squint at Chance And Anarch’s cracked decree!   Oh the showman who dens in Engihoul,   Would he fright us, or quit us, or fool?

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "In bas-relief he late has shown   A horrible show, agreed— Megalosaurus, iguanodon, Palaeotherium Glypthaecon,   A Barnum-show raree;   The vomit of slimy and sludgey sea: Purposeless creatures, odd inchoate things Which splashed thro’ morasses on fleshly wings; The cubs of Chaos, with eyes askance, Preposterous griffins that squint at Chance And Anarch’s cracked decree!   Oh the showman who dens in Engihoul,   Would he fright us, or quit us, or fool?" in the context of "Herman Melville, "The New Ancient of Days"" to mean that wisdom is timeless.