And from that time on I bathed in the Poem Of the Sea, star-infused and churned into milk, Devouring the green azures; where, entranced in pallid flotsam, A dreaming drowned man sometimes goes down.
Arthur RimbaudRead
I dreamed of Crusades, voyages of discovery that nobody had heard of, republics without histories, religious wars stamped out, revolutions in morals, movements of races and continents; I used to believe in every kind of magic. I began it as an investigation. I turned silences and nights into words. What was unutterable, I wrote down. I made the whirling world stand still.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the power of imagination and the transformative ability of words to capture the unexpressed and make sense of chaos.
In this quote, Arthur Rimbaud speaks to the depth of his imaginative aspirations and the role of writing in understanding and confronting the complexities of life. He imagines a world filled with possibilities that transcend current realities, emphasizing the importance of articulating thoughts and feelings that may be beyond normal expression. Through his writing, he seeks to transform silences into meaningful narratives, suggesting that creativity can halt the whirlwind of life and provide clarity and insight.
Themes
ImaginationCreativityWritingExpressionTransformation
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be shared at a creative writing workshop to inspire participants to explore their imagination.
More from Arthur Rimbaud
All quotes βMy wisdom is as spurned as chaos. What is my nothingness, compared to the amazement that awaits you?
Arthur RimbaudRead
In the great glasshouses streaming with condensation, the children in mourning-dress beheld marvels.
Arthur RimbaudRead
I turned silences and nights into words. What was unutterable, I wrote down. I made the whirling world stand still.
Arthur RimbaudRead
Idle youth, enslaved to everything; by being too sensitive I have wasted my life.
Arthur RimbaudRead
What a life! True life is elsewhere. We are not in the world.
Arthur RimbaudRead
Similar quotes
There is sweet music here that softer falls Than petals from blown roses on the grass, Or night-dews on still waters between walls Of shadowy granite, in a gleaming pass; Music that gentlier on the spirit lies, Than tir'd eyelids upon tir'd eyes; Music that brings sweet sleep down from the blissful skies. Here are cool mosses deep, And thro' the moss the ivies creep, And in the stream the long-leaved flowers weep, And from the craggy ledge the poppy hangs in sleep.
Alfred Lord TennysonRead
All I try to do is write music that feels meaningful to me, that has commitment and passion behind it.
Bruce SpringsteenRead
The eye speaks with an eloquence and truthfulness surpassing speech. It is the window out of which the winged thoughts often fly unwittingly. It is the tiny magic mirror on whose crystal surface the moods of feeling fitfully play, like the sunlight and shadow on a still stream.
Henry Theodore TuckermanRead
I think all art is about control, the encounter between control and uncontrollable.
Richard AvedonRead
Men admire the man who can organize their wishes and thoughts in stone and wood and steel and brass.
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead
We think of photography as pictures. And it is. But I think of photography as ideas. And do the pictures sustain your ideas or are they just good pictures? I want to have an experience in the world that is a deepening experience, that makes me feel alive and awake and conscious.
Joel MeyerowitzRead