There, by the starlit fences The wanderer halts and hears My soul that lingers sighing About the glimmering weirs.
A. E. HousmanRead
Who 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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the creator of the world and the inherent suffering of existence, highlighting a struggle against wrongdoing.
A. E. Housman's quote contemplates the mystery of existence and creation, expressing a sense of despair and conflict. The speaker acknowledges the suffering in their life, indicated by the imagery of bleeding knuckles, while maintaining a moral stance against wrongdoing. This duality of pain and integrity illustrates the internal struggle faced by individuals in a complex world where the reasons for their suffering are inexplicable and often unrelated to their own actions.
Themes
SufferingExistenceMoralityStruggleCreation
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a philosophical discussion about the nature of suffering and existence.
More from A. E. Housman
All quotes βI 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.
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Lovers lying two and two Ask not whom they sleep beside, And the bridegroom all night through Never turns him to the bride.
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And malt does more than Milton can to justify God's ways to man.
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Oh, 'tis jesting, dancing, drinking_x000D_ _x000D_ Spins the heavy world around.
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Wanderers eastward, wanderers west, Know you why you cannot rest? 'Tis that every mother's son Travails with a skeleton. Lie down in the bed of dust; Bear the fruit that bear you must; Bring the eternal seed to light, And morn is all the same as night.
A. E. HousmanRead
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