Do you not see how necessary a world of pains and troubles is to school an intelligence and make it a soul?
John KeatsRead
Life is but a day; A fragile dewdrop on its perilous way From a tree's summit.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Life is brief and delicate, much like a dewdrop that exists for only a moment.
In this quote, John Keats reflects on the transient nature of life, likening it to a fragile dewdrop that hangs precariously from the top of a tree. This imagery emphasizes the idea that life is fleeting and can vanish at any moment, urging us to appreciate its beauty and brevity.
Themes
LifeFragileTransienceAppreciationNature
In practice
Example use cases
During a graduation speech to encourage students to cherish their experiences.
More from John Keats
All quotes βAre there not thousands in the world who love their fellows even to the death, who feel the giant agony of the world, and more, like slaves to poor humanity, labor for mortal good?
John KeatsRead
Ask yourself my love whether you are not very cruel to have so entrammelled me, so destroyed my freedom. Will you confess this in the Letter you must write immediately, and do all you can to console me in it β make it rich as a draught of poppies to intoxicate me βwrite the softest words and kiss them that I may at least touch my lips where yours have been. For myself I know not how to express my devotion to so fair a form: I want a brighter word than bright, a fairer word than fair.
John KeatsRead
Faded the flower and all its budded charms,Faded the sight of beauty from my eyes,Faded the shape of beauty from my arms,Faded the voice, warmth, whiteness, paradise!Vanishd unseasonably
John KeatsRead
I think we may class the lawyer in the natural history of monsters.
John KeatsRead
...I leaped headlong into the Sea, and thereby have become more acquainted with the Soundings, the quicksands, and the rocks, than if I had stayed upon the green shore, and piped a silly pipe, and took tea and comfortable advice.
John KeatsRead
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