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About this quote

What does it mean?
A longing for a past place of happiness that cannot be returned to, remembered vividly but lost forever.
In plain terms
I think about a happy place from my past that I can never visit again.
What can you take from it?
Some memories define us even though we can never return to their source.

Where it applies

  • dealing with homesickness
  • processing grief
  • revisiting old places

Putting it to work

  • writing memoirs
  • visiting old towns
  • sharing stories

Questions to consider

  • Where is your lost content?
  • Why can't you go back?

Another view

The view romanticizes the past while ignoring any pain that existed there.

More from A. E. Housman

  1. Oh tarnish late on Wenlock Edge, Gold that I never see; Lie long, high snowdrifts in the hedge That will not shower on me.

    Permalink to quote #24
  2. Be still, my soul, be still; the arms you bear are brittle, Earth and high heaven are fixt of old and founded strong.

    Permalink to quote #26
  3. There, like the wind through woods in riot, Through him the gale of life blew high; The tree of man was never quiet: Then 'twas the Roman, now 'tis I.

    Permalink to quote #23

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