Everything is complicated; if that were not so, life and poetry and everything else would be a bore.
Wallace StevensRead
Compare the silent rose of the sun And rain, the blood-rose living in its smell, With this paper, this dust. That states the point.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote contrasts the beauty of nature with the mundane aspects of human existence.
Wallace Stevens reflects on the profound differences between the beauty found in nature, represented by the 'silent rose of the sun' and 'blood-rose', and the lifeless quality of man-made creations, symbolized by 'this paper, this dust'. The imagery evokes a sense of loss and challenges the value placed on human artifacts compared to the intrinsic beauty of the natural world.
Themes
NatureBeautyLifeArtPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a poetry reading to emphasize the contrast between nature and human creations.
More from Wallace Stevens
All quotes βMost modern reproducers of life, even including the camera, really repudiate it. We gulp down evil, choke at good.
Wallace StevensRead
After one has abandoned a belief in God, poetry is that essence which takes its place as life's redemption.
Wallace StevensRead
Why should she give her bounty to the dead? What is divinity if it can come Only in silent shadows and in dreams?
Wallace StevensRead
LIGHT FROM WITHIN my friend, cancer got you damn it: you had it beat for seven years at least. how did it come back? Why all that pain. again. and you, such a fighter you fought me over and over with tears and words and promises. you fought for me with honesty and a light so bright it hurts my heart. sweet lorna. at peace now finally no more battles, just light from within a flickering candle in the dark burns with you.
Wallace StevensRead
Unfortunately there is nothing more inane than an Easter carol. It is a religious perversion of the activity of Spring in our blood.
Wallace StevensRead
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It took me some years to clear my head of what Paris wanted me to admire about it, and to notice what I preferred instead. Not power-ridden monuments, but individual buildings which tell a quieter story: the artist's studio, or the Belle Epoque house built by a forgotten financier for a just-remembered courtesan.
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