Anyone with gumption and a sharp mind will take the measure of two things: what's said and what's done.
Seamus HeaneyRead
Poetry is more a threshold than a path.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Poetry serves as an entry point to deeper emotions and thoughts rather than a straightforward journey.
This quote suggests that poetry acts as a gateway to exploring complex feelings and ideas, inviting readers into a realm of imagination and reflection. Instead of providing a direct or linear experience, poetry opens the door to diverse interpretations and emotional experiences, allowing individuals to engage with their own thoughts and feelings in unique ways.
Themes
PoetryThresholdEmotionArtImagination
In practice
Example use cases
In a literature class, a teacher might use this quote to emphasize the exploratory nature of poetry.
More from Seamus Heaney
All quotes βWhat I've said before, only half in joke, is that everybody in Ireland is famous. Or, maybe better, say everybody is familiar.
Seamus HeaneyRead
The kinds of truth that art gives us many, many times are small truths. They don't have the resonance of an encyclical from the Pope stating an eternal truth, but they partake of the quality of eternity. There is a sort of timeless delight in them.
Seamus HeaneyRead
If self is a location, so is love: Bearings taken, markings, cardinal points, Options, obstinacies, dug heels, and distance, Here and there and now and then, a stance.
Seamus HeaneyRead
In my early teens, I acquired a kind of representative status: went on behalf of the family to wakes and funerals and so on. And I would be counted on as an adult contributor when it came to farm work - the hay in the summertime, for example.
Seamus HeaneyRead
I think that water is immediately interesting. It's just, as an element, it is full of life. It is associated with origin; it is bright - it reflects you.
Seamus HeaneyRead
Similar quotes
I've photographed just about everyone in the world. But what I hope to do is photograph people of accomplishment, not celebrity, and help define the difference once again.
Richard AvedonRead
What's lucky about my career in general is that I stumbled into what every writer most wants. Not repeating myself and doing strange things has become my trademark.
Jonathan LethemRead
The greatest writers have been, at heart, parochial, provincial in their rootedness.
Derek WalcottRead
We attempted perfection; we wanted an object to be without flaw, so we cut the papers with a razor, pasted them down meticulously, but it buckled and was ruined... that is why we decided to tear prewrinkled paper, so that in the finished work of art imperfection would be an integral part, as if at birth death were built in.
Hans ArpRead
You gotta have style. It helps you get down the stairs. It helps you get up in the morning. It's a way of life. Without it, you're nobody.
Diana VreelandRead
What, or who, led you to take up photography, and about what date ?_x000D_ George Bernard Shaw β I always wanted to draw and paint. I had no literary ambition. I aspired to be a Michelangelo, not a Shakespeare. But I could not draw well enough to satisfy myself; and the instruction I could get was worse than useless. So when dry plates and push buttons came into the market I bought a box camera and began pushing the button. It was in 1898.
George Bernard ShawRead