There is no feeling, except the extremes of fear and grief, that does not find relief in music.
T. S. EliotRead
And through the spaces of the dark Midnight shakes the memory As a madman shakes a dead geranium.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the struggle between memory and madness, emphasizing how our past can burden us.
T.S. Eliot's quote captures the haunting nature of memory, particularly in dark times. The comparison of memory to a 'madman' shaking a 'dead geranium' suggests that memories can be both fragile and tormenting, evoking feelings of despair and confusion as one grapples with the remnants of the past.
Themes
MemoryMadnessDarknessPastStruggle
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a discussion about how trauma affects our memories in a psychology class.
More from T. S. Eliot
All quotes βHalf of the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm. But the harm does not interest them.
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I am an Anglo-Catholic in religion, a classicist in literature and a royalist in politics.
T. S. EliotRead
If you aren't in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?
T. S. EliotRead
For I have known them all already, known them allβ Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons, I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.
T. S. EliotRead
In the faint moonlight, the grass is singing
T. S. EliotRead
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When we die, as when the scenes have been fixed on to celluloid and the scenery is pulled down and burnt β we are phantoms in the memories of our descendants. Then we are ghosts, my dear, then we are myths. But still we are together. We are the past together, we are a distant past. Beneath the dome of the mysterious stars, I still hear your voice.
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