For mightier far_x000D_ _x000D_ Than strength of nerve or sinew, or the sway_x000D_ _x000D_ Of magic potent over sun and star,_x000D_ _x000D_ Is love, though oft to agony distrest,_x000D_ _x000D_ And though his favourite be feeble woman's breast.
The daisy, by the shadow that it casts, Protects the lingering dewdrop from the sun.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The daisy provides shelter to the dew by casting a shadow, illustrating the interconnectedness of nature.
In this quote, William Wordsworth highlights the delicate balance of nature, where even a simple flower like a daisy plays a vital role in protecting and nurturing other elements of its ecosystem. The shadow cast by the daisy serves as a metaphor for the ways in which life forms support one another, emphasizing the idea that even the smallest acts of care can have significant impacts on smaller, vulnerable aspects of the natural world.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about environmental conservation, one could use this quote to emphasize the importance of each species in an ecosystem.
More from William Wordsworth
All quotes →By all means sometimes be alone; salute thyself; see what thy soul doth wear; dare to look in thy chest; and tumble up and down what thou findest there.
There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,_x000D_ _x000D_ The earth, and every common sight,_x000D_ _x000D_ To me did seem_x000D_ _x000D_ Apparelled in celestial light,_x000D_ _x000D_ The glory and the freshness of a dream.
Books are yours, Within whose silent chambers treasure lies Preserved from age to age; more precious far Than that accumulated store of gold And orient gems, which, for a day of need, The Sultan hides deep in ancestral tombs. These hoards of truth you can unlock at will.
The world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers: Little we see in Nature that is ours; We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon! The Sea that bares her bosom to the moon; The winds that will be howling at all hours, And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers; For this, for everything, we are out of tune.
Shalt show us how divine a thing A woman may be made.
Similar quotes
Aurora now, fair daughter of the dawn, Sprinkled with rosy light the dewy lawn.
Back and forth she went each morning by the river, spring arriving once again; foolish, foolish spring, breaking open its tiny buds, and what she couldn’t stand was how—for many years, really—she had been made happy by such a thing. She had not thought she would ever become immune to the beauty of the physical world, but there you were. The river sparkled with the sun that rose, enough that she needed her sunglasses.
We've poisoned the air, the water, and the land. In our passion to control nature, things have gone out of control. Progress from now on has to mean something different. We're running out of resources and we are running out of time.
While I am a great believer in the free enterprise system and all that it entails, I am an even stronger believer in the right of our people to live in a clean and pollution-free environment.
Recreational development is a job not of building roads into lovely country, but of building receptivity into the still unlovely human mind.
A man who lives with nature is used to violence and is companionable with death. There is more violence in an English hedgerow than in the meanest streets of a great city.