NOT, I’ll not, carrion comfort, Despair, not feast on thee; Not untwist—slack they may be—these last strands of man In me ór, most weary, cry I can no more. I can; Can something, hope, wish day come, not choose not to be.
Gerard Manley HopkinsRead
Beauty is a relation, and the apprehension of it a comparison.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Beauty depends on relationships and perspectives that require comparison to be fully appreciated.
In this quote, Gerard Manley Hopkins suggests that beauty is not an absolute quality but rather a relational concept that emerges through comparison and context. To truly apprehend beauty, one must engage in a comparative process, recognizing that what is deemed beautiful can vary greatly depending on the relationships and standards we apply.
Themes
BeautyRelationComparisonApprehensionPerception
In practice
Example use cases
During an art exhibition, one might use this quote to invite discussion on how audience perspectives shape their understanding of beauty.
More from Gerard Manley Hopkins
All quotes →And for all this, nature is never spent; There lives the dearest freshness deep down things; And though the last lights off the black West went Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs— Because the Holy Ghost over the bent World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.
Gerard Manley HopkinsRead
Look at the stars! Look, look up at the skies! Oh look at all the fire-folk sitting in the air! The bright boroughs, the circle-citadels there!
Gerard Manley HopkinsRead
Let Him easter in us, be a dayspring to the dimness of us, be a crimson-cresseted east.
Gerard Manley HopkinsRead
Birds buildbut not I build; no, but strain, Time's eunuch, and not breed one work that wakes. Mine,O thou lord of life, send my roots rain.
Gerard Manley HopkinsRead
Nothing is so beautiful as spring - when weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush; Thrush's eggs look little low heavens, and thrush through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring the ear, it strikes like lightning to hear him sing.
Gerard Manley HopkinsRead
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