Poe's original manuscript of "O, Tempora! O, Mores!" was lost. It was first printed by Eugene L. Didier in his own No Name Magazine in October 1889.
This poem, mostly a sarcastic jab at a clerk named Pitts, starts out with the words "O, Times! O, Manners!" (an English translation of "O, Tempora! O, Mores!"). This phrase, which is commonly used to criticize present-day customs and attitudes, helps illustrate Poe's opinion that many men and politicians (during his lifetime) act as if they have no manners.[32]
