But this, this which we say before we're sorry, This which we live behind our unseen faces, Is neither dream, nor childhood, neither Myth, nor landscape, final, nor finished, For we are incomplete and know no future, And we are howling or dancing out our souls In beating syllables before the curtain: We are Shakespearean, we are strangers.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Schwartz describes modern human identity as incomplete and performative, like actors reciting lines before a curtain without a finished script.
- In plain terms
- We are unfinished people acting out our lives without knowing the end.
- What can you take from it?
- Accept that you are still becoming who you are.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Are we always performing?
- Is life unfinished?
Another view
It may overlook moments of genuine certainty in life.
More from Delmore Schwartz
Whence, if ever, shall come the actuality Of a voice speaking the mind's knowing, The sunlight bright on the green windowshade, And the self articulate, affect…
Permalink to quote #4 That inescapable animal walks with me, Has followed me since the black womb held, Moves where I move, distorting my gesture, A caricature, a swollen shadow, A …
Permalink to quote #6 A car coughed, starting. Morning softly Melting the air, lifted the half-covered chair From underseas, kindled the looking-glass, Distinguished the dresser and…
Permalink to quote #3
Related quotes
I am standing in the wings of a theatre waiting for my cue to go onstage. As I stand there I can hear the play proceeding, and suddenly it dawns on me that the…
Malcolm MuggeridgeMalcolm Muggeridge quote #7 I liked myself better when I wasn't me.
Carol BurnettCarol Burnett quote #7 The play is done; the curtain drops, Slow falling to the prompter's bell A moment yet the actor stops And looks around to say farewell. It is an irksome word a…
William Makepeace ThackerayWilliam Makepeace Thackeray quote #12