Death is the sound of distant thunder at a picnic.
W. H. AudenRead
My face looks like a wedding-cake left out in the rain.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote humorously describes someone whose appearance may not be pristine or ideal.
W. H. Auden uses a vivid and comical metaphor to convey feelings of dishevelment or disappointment in one's appearance. By comparing his face to a 'wedding-cake left out in the rain', he emphasizes the contrast between the expected beauty of a wedding cake and the unfortunate, messy reality that can occur when it is exposed to the elements.
Themes
AppearanceHumorMetaphorWeddingDishevelment
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a light-hearted speech about self-acceptance.
More from W. H. Auden
All quotes βThat the speech of self-disclosure should be translatable seems to me very odd, but I am convinced that it is. The conclusion that I draw is that the only quality which all human being without exception possess is uniqueness: any characteristic, on the other hand, which one individual can be recognized as having in common with another, like red hair or the English language, implies the existence of other individual qualities which this classification excludes.
W. H. AudenRead
Nobody knows what the cause is, though some pretend they do; it like some hidden assassin waiting to strike at you. Childless women get it, and men when they retire; it as if there had to be some outlet for their foiled creative fire.
W. H. AudenRead
History is, strictly speaking, the study of questions; the study of answers belongs to anthropology and sociology.
W. H. AudenRead
Music is the best means we have of digesting time.
W. H. AudenRead
'Healing,' Papa would tell me, 'is not a science, but the intuitive art of wooing nature.'
W. H. AudenRead
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