...we shall board our imagined ship and wildly sail among sacred islands of the mad till death shatters the fabulous stars and makes us real.
Sylvia PlathRead
A dispassionate white sun shone at the summit of the sky. I wanted to hone myself on it till I grew saintly and thin and essential as the blade of a knife.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects a desire for purity and transcendence through intense self-reflection and discipline.
In this evocative passage, Sylvia Plath expresses a yearning to achieve a state of purity and refinement, symbolized by the 'dispassionate white sun.' The imagery of honing oneself to become 'saintly and thin and essential like the blade of a knife' suggests a deep desire for clarity, focus, and a stripped-down essence of existence, emphasizing the value of introspection and personal transformation.
Themes
Self-ReflectionPurityTranscendenceGrowthIntrospection
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be shared during a meditation retreat to inspire participants to focus on their inner growth.
More from Sylvia Plath
All quotes →The hardest thing, I think, is to live richly in the present, without letting it be tainted & spoiled out of fear for the future or regret for a badly-managed past.
Sylvia PlathRead
It is as if my life were magically run by two electric currents: joyous positive and despairing negative--which ever is running at the moment dominates my life, floods it.
Sylvia PlathRead
You walked in, laughing, tears welling confused, mingling in your throat. How can you be so many women to so many people, oh you strange girl?
Sylvia PlathRead
I keep wanting to crawl back into the womb.
Sylvia PlathRead
It's the living, the eating, the sleeping that everyone needs. Ideas don't matter so much after all. My three best friends are Catholic. I can't see their beliefs, but I can see the things they love to do on earth. When you come right down to it, I do believe in the freedom of the individual.
Sylvia PlathRead
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