As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends, / I must not look to have; but, in their stead, / Curses, not loud but deep, mouth-honour, breath, / Which the poor heart would fain deny, and dare not" (5.3.25-28).
William ShakespeareRead
Ay, Much is the force of heaven-bred poesy.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The power of poetry is derived from its divine inspiration and creativity.
In this quote, Shakespeare suggests that poetry possesses a unique strength and influence that comes from a higher, almost celestial source. He underscores the idea that true artistry, especially in poetry, transcends ordinary human expression and taps into a profound spiritual essence that can move people deeply and evoke powerful emotions.
Themes
PoetryArtInspirationCreativityDivine
In practice
Example use cases
In a literature class, to emphasize the significance of poetry in expressing emotions.
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Give it an understanding, but no tongue.
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The writing process for a short story feels more like field geology, where you keep turning the thing over and over, noting its qualities in detail, hammering at it, putting it near flame, pouring different acids on it, and then finally you figure out what it is, or you just give up and mount it on a ring and have an awkward chunky piece of jewelry that seems weirdly dominating but that you for some reason like. I could be wrong about field geology here.
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