There, by the starlit fences The wanderer halts and hears My soul that lingers sighing About the glimmering weirs.
A. E. HousmanRead
Lovers lying two and two Ask not whom they sleep beside, And the bridegroom all night through Never turns him to the bride.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote explores the complexities and hidden truths in romantic relationships.
A. E. Housman's quote suggests the emotional distance and undisclosed feelings that can exist even in intimate relationships. It reflects on lovers who may be together physically but are psychologically disconnected, indicating that the true essence of love goes beyond mere physical presence and requires deeper connection and understanding.
Themes
LoveRelationshipsIntimacyEmotional DistanceConnection
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used during a discussion about the nature of romantic relationships in a psychology class.
More from A. E. Housman
All quotes →Who made the world I cannot tell; 'Tis made, and here am I in hell. My hand, though now my knuckles bleed, I never soiled with such a deed.
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I am not a pessimist but a pejorist (as George Eliot said she was not an optimist but a meliorist); and that philosophy is founded on my observation of the world, not on anything so trivial and irrelevant as personal history.
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And malt does more than Milton can to justify God's ways to man.
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Oh, 'tis jesting, dancing, drinking_x000D_ _x000D_ Spins the heavy world around.
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Wanderers eastward, wanderers west, Know you why you cannot rest? 'Tis that every mother's son Travails with a skeleton. Lie down in the bed of dust; Bear the fruit that bear you must; Bring the eternal seed to light, And morn is all the same as night.
A. E. HousmanRead
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