Anyone with gumption and a sharp mind will take the measure of two things: what's said and what's done.
Seamus HeaneyRead
In a way, Anglo-Saxon poetry cannot be translated.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Anglo-Saxon poetry's unique essence makes it challenging to convey in other languages.
Seamus Heaney's quote highlights the intricate beauty and cultural significance of Anglo-Saxon poetry, suggesting that its linguistic and rhythmic qualities are so deeply rooted in the original language that any translation may fail to capture its full richness and meaning. This reflects on the broader notion of how language shapes art and experience in unique ways.
Themes
Anglo-SaxonPoetryTranslationLanguageCulture
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture about the nuances of language, Seamus Heaney's quote can spark a discussion about the challenges of translation.
More from Seamus Heaney
All quotes βWhat I've said before, only half in joke, is that everybody in Ireland is famous. Or, maybe better, say everybody is familiar.
Seamus HeaneyRead
The kinds of truth that art gives us many, many times are small truths. They don't have the resonance of an encyclical from the Pope stating an eternal truth, but they partake of the quality of eternity. There is a sort of timeless delight in them.
Seamus HeaneyRead
If self is a location, so is love: Bearings taken, markings, cardinal points, Options, obstinacies, dug heels, and distance, Here and there and now and then, a stance.
Seamus HeaneyRead
In my early teens, I acquired a kind of representative status: went on behalf of the family to wakes and funerals and so on. And I would be counted on as an adult contributor when it came to farm work - the hay in the summertime, for example.
Seamus HeaneyRead
I think that water is immediately interesting. It's just, as an element, it is full of life. It is associated with origin; it is bright - it reflects you.
Seamus HeaneyRead
Similar quotes
When I'm home on a break, I lock myself in my room and play guitar. After two or three hours, I start getting into this total meditation. It's a feeling few people experience, and that's usually when I come up with weird stuff. It just flows. I can't force myself. I don't sit down and say I've got to practice.
Eddie Van HalenRead
Robert Rauschenberg was not a giant of American art; he was the giant. No American created so many aesthetic openings for so many artists.
Jerry SaltzRead
Photography of any living being, according to Taliban rule, was illegal. So when I went to Afghanistan, immediately I was worried about photographing people. But it was what I wanted: to show what life was like under the Taliban, specifically for women.
Lynsey AddarioRead
A poet more than thirty years old is simply an overgrown child.
H. L. MenckenRead
When something really hits me, it makes me want to either jump off something really high or lie down and be buried. I want people to get hit and caught by my music.
Florence WelchRead
Disneyland is the star, everything else is in the supporting role.
Walt DisneyRead