My turn shall also come: I sense the spreading of a wing.
Osip MandelstamRead
The people need poetry that will be their own secret_x000D_ To keep them awake forever,_x000D_ And bathe them in the bright-haired wave of its breathing.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Poetry serves as a vital, personal source of inspiration and awakening for individuals.
In this quote, Osip Mandelstam expresses the idea that poetry should resonate deeply with individuals, acting as a personal refuge that embodies their innermost thoughts and feelings. The reference to keeping people 'awake' suggests that poetry has the power to awaken consciousness and awareness, while 'bathe them in the bright-haired wave' evokes imagery of renewal and enlightenment through the beauty of poetic expression.
Themes
PoetryInspirationAwakeningArtBeauty
In practice
Example use cases
During a poetry reading, I shared this quote to emphasize the personal connection people have with poetry.
More from Osip Mandelstam
All quotes →Perhaps my whisper was already born before my lips.
Osip MandelstamRead
And I walk out of space Into an overgrown garden of values, And tear up seeming stability And self-comprehension of causes. And your, infinity, textbook I read by myself, without people - Leafless, savage medical book, A problem book of gigantic radicals.
Osip MandelstamRead
Perhaps the whisper was born before lips, And the leaves in treelessness circled and flew, And those, to whom we impart our experience as bliss, Acquire their forms before we do
Osip MandelstamRead
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