Do you not see how necessary a world of pains and troubles is to school an intelligence and make it a soul?
John KeatsRead
This living hand, now warm and capable Of earnest grasping, would, if it were cold And in the icy silence of the tomb, So haunt thy days and chill thy dreaming nights That thou would wish thine own heart dry of blood, So in my veins red life might stream again, And thou be conscience-calm'd. See, here it is-- I hold it towards you.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the relationship between life, death, and the yearning for connection.
In this poignant quote, John Keats uses the imagery of a warm, living hand to emphasize the intensity of life and the desire for connection, in contrast to the coldness of death symbolized by the tomb. The speaker expresses a deep longing for his vitality to be shared with another, suggesting that love and existence are intertwined, and encountering the specter of death heightens this yearning for life and consciousness in the presence of a beloved.
Themes
LifeDeathConnectionLoveLonging
In practice
Example use cases
Use this quote during a toast at a wedding to illustrate the importance of love and life.
More from John Keats
All quotes →Are 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 — make it rich as a draught of poppies to intoxicate me —write 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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