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About this quote

What does it mean?
The quote suggests that lovers and even the bridegroom are often emotionally detached or distracted, not deeply connected to their partners.
In plain terms
Lovers often do not care deeply about who they are with.
What can you take from it?
Intimacy does not guarantee emotional presence.

Where it applies

  • reflecting on past relationships
  • observing wedding ceremonies
  • writing about love

Putting it to work

  • journaling about connection
  • analyzing partner behavior
  • writing poetry

Questions to consider

  • Have you ever felt alone beside someone?
  • Do you think all lovers are distant?

Another view

This view presents a cynical perspective that ignores genuine deep connections.

More from A. E. Housman

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  2. When I was one-and-twenty I heard a wise man say, 'Give crowns and pounds and guineas But not your heart away.'

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  3. Now, of my threescore years and ten, Twenty will not come again, And take from seventy springs a score, It only leaves me fifty more. And since to look at thin…

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