...we shall board our imagined ship and wildly sail among sacred islands of the mad till death shatters the fabulous stars and makes us real.
Sylvia PlathRead
When I was learning to creep, my mother set me down on the beach to see what I thought of it. I crawled straight for the coming wave and was just through the wall of green when she caught my heels.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects the curiosity and adventurous spirit of a child learning and exploring the world, guided by a protective parent.
In this quote, Sylvia Plath shares a childhood memory that illustrates the innate curiosity and fearlessness of children when confronted with new experiences. The imagery of crawling towards a wave symbolizes a desire to explore the unknown, and the mother's intervention signifies protective love. It captures the balance between exploration and safety that is fundamental in the journey of life.
Themes
ChildhoodCuriosityExplorationParentingProtection
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech about childhood development and the importance of exploration.
More from Sylvia Plath
All quotes →The hardest thing, I think, is to live richly in the present, without letting it be tainted & spoiled out of fear for the future or regret for a badly-managed past.
Sylvia PlathRead
It is as if my life were magically run by two electric currents: joyous positive and despairing negative--which ever is running at the moment dominates my life, floods it.
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You walked in, laughing, tears welling confused, mingling in your throat. How can you be so many women to so many people, oh you strange girl?
Sylvia PlathRead
I keep wanting to crawl back into the womb.
Sylvia PlathRead
It's the living, the eating, the sleeping that everyone needs. Ideas don't matter so much after all. My three best friends are Catholic. I can't see their beliefs, but I can see the things they love to do on earth. When you come right down to it, I do believe in the freedom of the individual.
Sylvia PlathRead
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