Sometime let gorgeous Tragedy In sceptred pall come sweeping by, Presenting Thebes, or Pelops' line, Or the tale of Troy divine.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the beauty and significance of tragic stories in art and literature.
In this excerpt from John Milton, the author invokes the notion that tragedy, represented through grand historical narratives like those of Thebes, Pelops, and Troy, holds a transformative power. By allowing these profound tales of suffering and hardship to enter our lives, we can appreciate the depths of human experience and the artistry involved in portraying such dramatic elements.
In practice
In a conversation about the power of storytelling, one might quote this to emphasize the importance of tragedy in art.
They, looking back, all the eastern side beheld Of Paradise, so late their happy seat, Waved over by that flaming brand, the gate With dreadful faces thronged and fiery arms: Some natural tears they dropped, but wiped them soon; The world was all before them, where to choose Their place of rest, and Providence their guide; They, hand in hand, with wandering steps and slow, Through Eden took their solitary way.
The stars, that nature hung in heaven, and filled their lamps with everlasting oil, give due light to the misled and lonely traveller.
Ev'n them who kept thy truth so pure of old, When all our fathers worshipp'd stocks and stones.
Abashed the devil stood and felt how awful goodness is and saw Virtue in her shape how lovely: and pined his loss
The end of all learning is to know God, and out of that knowledge to love and imitate Him.
Apt words have power to suage the tumors of a troubled mind.
If you have a story that seems worth telling, and you think you can tell it worthily, then the thing for you to do is to tell it, regardless of whether it has to do with sex, sailors or mounted policemen.
As photographs give people an imaginary possession of a past that is unreal, they also help people to take possession of space in which they are insecure.
A work can have in it a pent-up energy, an intense life of its own, independent of the subject it may represent.
I feel like everything we do comes down to how it looks. Even no branding is branding. For example, you had no face or image to put to my music at first. That was branding.
Of course I know that the twins are only words on a page, and I'm certainly not the sort of writer who talks to his characters or harbours any illusions about the creative process. But at the same time, I think it's juvenile and arrogant when literary writers compulsively remind their readers that the characters aren't real. People know that already. The challenge is to make an intelligent reader suspend disbelief, to seduce them into the reality of a narrative.
I think the best stories always end up being about the people rather than the event, which is to say character-driven.
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