There, by the starlit fences The wanderer halts and hears My soul that lingers sighing About the glimmering weirs.
A. E. HousmanRead
Even when poetry has a meaning, as it usually has, it may be inadvisable to draw it out. Perfect understanding will sometimes almost extinguish pleasure.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The essence of poetry may be diluted by over-analyzing its meaning.
A. E. Housman suggests that while poetry often carries a deeper meaning, seeking to fully understand it can detract from the enjoyment it provides. The mystery and emotion in poetic language can be lost when one tries to dissect it too thoroughly, implying that some aspects of art are meant to be felt rather than entirely understood.
Themes
PoetryUnderstandingPleasureArtEnjoyment
In practice
Example use cases
During a poetry reading, one might use this quote to encourage audience members to experience the poem emotionally rather than analytically.
More from A. E. Housman
All quotes βWho 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.
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I 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.
A. E. HousmanRead
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