Heart, we will forget him, You and I, tonight! You must forget the warmth he gave, I will forget the light.
Emily DickinsonRead
If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can warm me, I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry. These are the only ways I know it. Is there any other way?
Interpretation
The quote expresses the profound impact poetry has on the human experience, evoking intense emotional and physical sensations.
Emily Dickinson's quote explores the powerful effects of poetry on the reader. She describes the physical and emotional reactions that great poetry can elicit, such as feeling cold to the bone or as if one's head has been removed. This intensity is what Dickinson recognizes as the hallmark of true poetry, suggesting that its influence goes far beyond words, reaching deep into the soul and body, creating a unique, transformative experience.
In practice
In a literature class discussion about the emotional power of poetry.
Heart, we will forget him, You and I, tonight! You must forget the warmth he gave, I will forget the light.
I held a jewel in my fingers And went to sleep. The day was warm, and winds were prosy; I said: "'T will keep." I woke and chid my honest fingers,— The gem was gone; And now an amethyst remembrance Is all I own.
I'll tell you how the sun rose, a ribbon at a time. The steeples swam in amethyst, The news like squirrels ran. The hills untied their bonnets, The bobolinks begun. Then I said softly to myself, "That must have been the sun!
My best Acquaintances are those With Whom I spoke no Word
This is the Hour of Lead- Remembered, if outlived, As freezing persons, recollect the Snow- First-Chill-then Stupor- then the letting go---
Luck is not chance, it's toil; fortune's expensive smile is earned.
You don't write a song to sit there on a page. You write it to sing it.
The call for diversity is about recognizing that in order to be in the conversation come awards season, it goes back to the content that is being produced.
Auden said poetry makes nothing happen. But I wonder if the opposite could be true. It could make something happen.
I enjoy cooking with wine, sometimes I even put it in the food I'm cooking.
I'll play it first and tell you what it is later.
I feel as though I've gotten to a point where I don't really want to set a book in any real place ever again.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.