...imagine what you are writing about. See it and live it. Do not think it up laboriously, as if you were working out mental arithmetic. Just look at it, touch it, smell it, listen to it, turn yourself into it. When you do this, the words look after themselves, like magic.
And the elephant sings deep in the forest-maze_x000D_ _x000D_ About a star of deathless and painless peace_x000D_ _x000D_ But no astronomer can find where it is.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the elusive nature of profound peace and understanding, suggesting that despite its existence, it remains unattainable for many.
In this quote by Ted Hughes, the elephant symbolizes a powerful and ancient presence in nature, embodying deep wisdom and peace that exists beyond the reach of human understanding. The 'star of deathless and painless peace' represents an ideal state of being or knowledge that is universally desired yet impossible to locate or grasp fully, highlighting the limits of human inquiry and the mysterious aspects of existence that lie beyond empirical observation.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about the search for inner peace during a meditation retreat.
More from Ted Hughes
All quotes →The inmost spirit of poetry, in other words, is at bottom, in every recorded case, the voice of pain – and the physical body, so to speak, of poetry, is the treatment by which the poet tries to reconcile that pain with the world.
Nobody wanted your dance, Nobody wanted your strange glitter, your floundering Drowning life and your effort to save yourself, Treading water, dancing the dark turmoil, Looking for something to give.
Haven’t you heard of the music of the spheres?” asked the dragon. “It’s the music that space makes to itself. All the spirits inside all the stars are singing. I’m a star spirit. I sing too. The music of the spheres is what makes space so peaceful.
You solve it as you get older, when you reach the point where you've tasted so much that you can somehow sacrifice certain things more easily, and you have a more tolerant view of things like possessiveness (your own) and a broader acceptance of the pains and the losses.
The real mystery is this strange need. Why can't we just hide it and shut up? Why do we have to blab? Why do human beings need to confess?
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