We ought not to extract pernicious honey from poison blossoms of misrepresentation and mendacious half-truth, to pamper the course appetite of bigotry and self-love.
Samuel Taylor ColeridgeRead
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan A stately pleasure-dome decree: Where Alph, the sacred river, ran Through caverns measureless to man Down to a sunless sea.
Interpretation
This quote describes the grandeur of a visionary palace and the natural wonders surrounding it.
The quote from Coleridge's poem paints a vivid picture of an extravagant pleasure-dome decreed by Kubla Khan, set amidst a fantastical landscape of rivers and caverns. It embodies themes of creativity, imagination, and the sublime beauty of nature, illustrating the power of human vision to create extraordinary spaces that evoke wonder and awe.
In practice
In a poetry reading, one could use this quote to illustrate the relationship between imagination and the natural world.
We ought not to extract pernicious honey from poison blossoms of misrepresentation and mendacious half-truth, to pamper the course appetite of bigotry and self-love.
Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.
And all who heard should see them there, And all should cry, Beware! Beware! His flashing eyes, his floating hair! Weave a circle round him thrice, And close your eyes with holy dread, For he on honey-dew hath fed, And drunk the milk of Paradise.
Often do the spirits stride on before the event; and in today already walks tomorrow.
Mr. Lyell's system of geology is just half the truth, and no more. He affirms a great deal that is true, and he denies a great deal which is equally true; which is the general characteristic of all systems not embracing the whole truth.
To believe and to understand are not diverse things, but the same things in different periods of growth.
I don't care who you are. When you sit down to write the first page of your screenplay, in your head, you're also writing your Oscar acceptance speech.
As a director you have to be careful you don't over-design the film. You have to be careful that the period aspect does not take over.
I am no longer concerned with sensation and innovation, but with the perfection of my style.
Being a Negro writer these days is a racket and I'm going to make the most of it while it lasts. About twice a year I sell a story. It is acclaimed. I am a genius in the making. Thank God for this Negro literary renaissance. Long may it flourish
I can't understand these chaps who go round American universities explaining how they write poems: It's like going round explaining how you sleep with your wife.
In some ways I believe music is the more convincing communicator of ideas than words. For instance, we can hear of Kordaly and Bartok and recognise them as Hungarian, but very few of us speak Hungarian, but the music itself speaks to more people.
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