All flesh is grass

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All flesh is grass (Hebrew: כָּל־הַבָּשָׂ֣ר חָצִ֔יר kol habbasar chatsir^[1]), is a phrase found in the Old Testament book of Isaiah, chapter 40, verses 6-8:

6 A voice says, “Cry out.”

    And I said, “What shall I cry?”

“All people are like grass,

    and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.

7 The grass withers and the flowers fall,

    because the breath of the Lord blows on them.

    Surely the people are grass.

8 The grass withers and the flowers fall,

    but the word of our God endures forever.”^[2]

In the New Testament the phrase reoccurs in the First Epistle of Peter (see 1 Peter 1:24; Greek: πᾶσα σὰρξ ὡς χόρτος, pasa sarx hōs chortos^[3]). It was a commonly used epitaph, frequently found for example on old ledger stones and monuments in churches in 17th century England. The phrase is interpreted to mean that human life is transitory ('impotent, perishing, limited').^[4]

Uses[]

It has been used in various works, including:

• "All Flesh is Grass", a poem by English poet Christina Rossetti
• "War Photographer" by the Scottish poet Carol Ann Duffy, where it describes the sights seen in war photographs
• "The Omnivore's Dilemma", a nonfiction book by Michael Pollan
• "Difficulties of a Statesman" by T. S. Eliot, repeated in a line of the poem
• All Flesh is Grass, a novel by American science fiction writer Clifford D. Simak
• All flesh is Grass: Pleasures & Promises of Pasture Farming, a book on agriculture by American author Gene Logsdon
• All Flesh Is Grass, an album by Norwegian dark metal band Madder Mortem
• King Edward VI and the Pope, inscribed on the pope's chest in the painting
• , inscribed on the pope's chest in the painting
• The Shoemakers' Holiday (1599) by Thomas Dekker
• "Denn alles Fleisch es ist wie Gras", the second movement of the German Requiem by Johannes Brahms, used as text
• "Arithmetic on the Frontier", poem by Rudyard Kipling's, used in the first stanza
• "Ten Songs" by W. H. Auden, used in the third stanza of the ninth poem
• The Good Soldier Švejk and His Fortunes in the World War, novel by Jaroslav Hašek's, the volunteer Marek recites it to Švejk
• Heaven's Gate (1980), John Hurt's character Billy Irvine mutters it to himself as
• Cracker, the phrase appears in "The Big Crunch" episode^[5]
• En vänlig grönskas rika dräkt by Carl David af Wirsén, it gives the tone to the second part of the 1889 Swedish summer hymn
• "6ix", song by The Lemonheads on the album Car Button Cloth.
• "All Flesh Is Grass", Doctor Who novel written by Una McCormack, released in 2020
• "The Code of the Woosters" by PG Wodehouse, first published in 1938, quoted by Bertie Wooster
• "The Bird of Night" by Susan Hill
• The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (Waiting Room: Chapter 8), Aunt Lydia references incorrectly as "all flesh is weak"^[6]

References[]