Give me hunger, pain and want, Shut me out with shame and failure From your doors of gold and fame, Give me your shabbiest, weariest hunger! But leave me a little love.
Carl SandburgRead
Poetry is a series of explanations of life, fading off into horizons too swift for explanations.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that poetry attempts to describe the complexities of life, but its essence can often evade definitive understanding.
Carl Sandburg's quote highlights the role of poetry as a means to articulate the intricacies of life. However, it also acknowledges that life itself is vast and dynamic, often moving too quickly for any single explanation to fully capture its experiences and truths. This duality illustrates poetry's power and its limitations in conveying the totality of human existence.
Themes
PoetryLifeExplanationHorizonsArt
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of artistic expression, one could use this quote to emphasize poetry's role in exploring life.
More from Carl Sandburg
All quotes βNothing happens... but first a dream.
Carl SandburgRead
Read the dictionary from A to Izzard today. Get a vocabulary. Brush up on your diction. See whether wisdom is just a lot of language.
Carl SandburgRead
My name is Truth and I am the most elusive captive in the universe.
Carl SandburgRead
There is an eagle in me that wants to soar, and there is a hippopotamus in me that wants to wallow in the mud.
Carl SandburgRead
A liar goes in fine clothes, a liar goes in rags, a liar is a liar, clothes or no clothes.
Carl SandburgRead
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