In beauty of face no maiden ever equaled her. It was the radiance of an opium-dream - an airy and spirit-lifting vision more wildly divine than the fantasies which hovered about the slumbering souls of the daughters of Delos.
Interpretation
This quote describes an unparalleled beauty that transcends reality, evoking a divine and dreamlike vision.
Edgar Allan Poe's quote captures the essence of extraordinary beauty, comparing it to a transcendent dream that lifts the spirit. The reference to an opium dream suggests a surreal and intoxicating experience, creating an image of beauty that is not just physical but also ethereal, akin to the fantasies that dwell in the subconscious of legendary figures. This portrayal emphasizes the power of beauty to inspire and move individuals profoundly.
In practice
In a discussion about artistic representations of beauty, this quote can be used to highlight the profound impact of aesthetic experiences.
But evil things, in robes of sorrow, Assailed the monarch's high estate; (Ah, let us mourn, for never morrow Shall dawn upon him desolate!) And round about his home the glory That blushed and bloomed, Is but a dim-remembered story Of the old time entombed.
Most writers - poets in especial - prefer having it understood that they compose by a species of fine frenzy - an ecstatic intuition - and would positively shudder at letting the public take a peep behind the scenes.
...the agony of my soul found vent in one loud, long and final scream of despair.
Where the good and the bad and the worst and the best have gone to their eternal rest.
I could have clasped the red walls to my bosom as a garment of eternal peace. "Death," I said, "any death but that of the pit!" Fool! might I have not known that into the pit it was the object of the burning iron to urge me?
In our endeavors to recall to memory something long forgotten, we often find ourselves upon the very verge of remembrance, without being able, in the end, to remember.
O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend The brightest heaven of invention, A kingdom for a stage, princes to act And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!
You want to know how to paint a perfect painting? It's easy. Make yourself perfect and then just paint naturally.
When anyone seriously pursues an art - painting, poetry, sculpture, composing - over twenty or thirty years, the sustained discipline carries the artist down to the countryside of grief, and that descent, resisted so long proves invigorating. . . . As I've gotten older, I find I am able to be nourished more by sorrow and to distinguish it from depression.
I paint what cannot be photographed, that which comes from the imagination or from dreams, or from an unconscious drive.
An artist is somebody who enters into competition with God.
I often will write a scene from three different points of view to find out which has the most tension and which way I'm able to conceal the information I'm trying to conceal. And that is, at the end of the day, what writing suspense is all about.
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