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They swayed about upon a rocking horse, And thought it Pegasus.
John Keats
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Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote illustrates the innocence of imagination and the ability to elevate ordinary experiences to extraordinary heights.

In this quote, John Keats reflects on the beauty of imagination and how children transform a simple act of playing on a rocking horse into a grand adventure, seeing it as a mythical Pegasus. This idea emphasizes the power of creativity in shaping our perceptions and adding wonder to our lives, suggesting that our interpretations can grant significance to seemingly mundane experiences.

Themes

ImaginationCreativityInnocenceChildhoodPerception

In practice

Example use cases

In a discussion about the value of imagination in education.

More from John Keats

Do you not see how necessary a world of pains and troubles is to school an intelligence and make it a soul?
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Are there not thousands in the world who love their fellows even to the death, who feel the giant agony of the world, and more, like slaves to poor humanity, labor for mortal good?
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Ask yourself my love whether you are not very cruel to have so entrammelled me, so destroyed my freedom. Will you confess this in the Letter you must write immediately, and do all you can to console me in it — make it rich as a draught of poppies to intoxicate me —write the softest words and kiss them that I may at least touch my lips where yours have been. For myself I know not how to express my devotion to so fair a form: I want a brighter word than bright, a fairer word than fair.
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Faded the flower and all its budded charms,Faded the sight of beauty from my eyes,Faded the shape of beauty from my arms,Faded the voice, warmth, whiteness, paradise!Vanishd unseasonably
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I think we may class the lawyer in the natural history of monsters.
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...I leaped headlong into the Sea, and thereby have become more acquainted with the Soundings, the quicksands, and the rocks, than if I had stayed upon the green shore, and piped a silly pipe, and took tea and comfortable advice.
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