There, by the starlit fences The wanderer halts and hears My soul that lingers sighing About the glimmering weirs.
A. E. HousmanRead
Strapped, noosed, nighing his hour, He stood and counted them and cursed his luck; And then the clock collected in the tower Its strength, and struck.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the inevitability of time and fate amidst struggles and misfortune.
A. E. Housman's quote illustrates the tension between personal struggle and the unstoppable passage of time. The imagery of a man who, despite feeling trapped and cursed by his circumstances, recognizes the inevitability of time as the clock strikes, symbolizes the burdens we carry and the reality that life continues regardless of our own difficulties. It serves as a contemplation of how we face our fate, often feeling powerless against the passage of time and the events that transpire in our lives.
Themes
TimeFateStruggleInevitablePhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
During a reflective speech on the inevitability of life's challenges.
More from A. E. Housman
All quotes βWho 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.
A. E. HousmanRead
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.
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.
A. E. HousmanRead
And malt does more than Milton can to justify God's ways to man.
A. E. HousmanRead
Oh, 'tis jesting, dancing, drinking_x000D_ _x000D_ Spins the heavy world around.
A. E. HousmanRead
Similar quotes
The individual is defined only by his relationship to the world and to other individuals; he exists only by transcending himself, and his freedom can be achieved only through the freedom of others. He justifies his existence by a movement which, like freedom, springs from his heart but which leads outside of himself.
Simone De BeauvoirRead
It was not in her nature, however, to increase her vexations by dwelling on them. She was confident of having performed her duty, and to fret over unavoidable evils, or augment them by anxiety, was not part of her disposition.
Jane AustenRead
The foundation of justice is good faith.
Marcus Tullius CiceroRead
It seems entirely possible to me that horrible things can be going on without us becoming horrible people.
Jonathan Safran FoerRead
Rebellion without truth is like spring in a bleak, arid desert.
Khalil GibranRead
Feel the delight of walking in the noisy street and being the noise.
RumiRead