Do you not see how necessary a world of pains and troubles is to school an intelligence and make it a soul?
John KeatsRead
The world is too brutal for me-I am glad there is such a thing as the grave-I am sure I shall never have any rest till I get there.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote expresses a sense of despair and relief in the thought of death as a respite from the harshness of life.
In this quote, John Keats articulates a profound struggle with the brutal realities of existence. He finds solace in the idea of the grave, suggesting that lifeβs challenges and pains are so overwhelming that he longs for the peace he believes awaits him after death. This reflection speaks to the darker aspects of human experience and the sometimes comforting thought of release from suffering.
Themes
LifeDeathSufferingRestDespair
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in discussions about mental health to illustrate feelings of despair.
More from John Keats
All quotes βAre 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?
John KeatsRead
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 β make it rich as a draught of poppies to intoxicate me βwrite 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.
John KeatsRead
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
John KeatsRead
I think we may class the lawyer in the natural history of monsters.
John KeatsRead
...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.
John KeatsRead
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