Everything is complicated; if that were not so, life and poetry and everything else would be a bore.
Wallace StevensRead
Why should she give her bounty to the dead? What is divinity if it can come Only in silent shadows and in dreams?
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote questions the purpose of offering beauty or love to those who are no longer alive, exploring the nature of divinity in relation to existence and dreams.
In this quote, Wallace Stevens presents a poignant reflection on the nature of giving and the concept of divinity. He suggests that offering oneβs gifts or affection to the deceased raises questions about the purpose of such gestures, particularly if true divinity resides only in the realms of silence, shadows, and dreams. This invites contemplation on what is truly meaningful in life and how we connect with the intangible aspects of existence, particularly in moments of loss and remembrance.
Themes
DivinityDeathDreamsExistenceGiving
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about life after death in a philosophy class.
More from Wallace Stevens
All quotes βMost modern reproducers of life, even including the camera, really repudiate it. We gulp down evil, choke at good.
Wallace StevensRead
After one has abandoned a belief in God, poetry is that essence which takes its place as life's redemption.
Wallace StevensRead
LIGHT FROM WITHIN my friend, cancer got you damn it: you had it beat for seven years at least. how did it come back? Why all that pain. again. and you, such a fighter you fought me over and over with tears and words and promises. you fought for me with honesty and a light so bright it hurts my heart. sweet lorna. at peace now finally no more battles, just light from within a flickering candle in the dark burns with you.
Wallace StevensRead
Unfortunately there is nothing more inane than an Easter carol. It is a religious perversion of the activity of Spring in our blood.
Wallace StevensRead
Compare the silent rose of the sun And rain, the blood-rose living in its smell, With this paper, this dust. That states the point.
Wallace StevensRead
Similar quotes
The first right on earth is the right of the ego. Man's first duty is to himself. His moral law is never to place his prime goal within the persons of others. His moral obligation is to do what he wishes, provided his wish does not depend primarily upon other men.
Ayn RandRead
But where are you going to, Helen? Can you see? Do you know?-I believe; I have faith: I am going to God.-Where is God? What is God?-My maker and yours, who will never destroy what He created. I rely implicitly on His power, and confide wholly in His goodness: I count the hours till that eventful one arrives which shall restore me to Him, reveal Him to me.
Charlotte BronteRead
If we use goods made from raw materials that are obtained from a poor country without the proceeds being used to benefit the people of that country, we become complicit in a particularly iniquitous form of grand larceny.
Peter SingerRead
If anything had or could have a value equal to gold and silver, it would require no tender law; and if it had not that value it ought not to have such a law; and, therefore, all tender laws are tyrannical and unjust and calculated to support fraud and oppression.
Thomas PaineRead
While photographs may not lie, liars may photograph.
Lewis HineRead
The being without an opinion is so painful to human nature that most people will leap to a hasty opinion rather than undergo it.
Walter BagehotRead