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.
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.
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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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