Two girls discover the secret of life in a sudden line of poetry. I who don't know the secret wrote the line.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Two girls find life's secret in a line of poetry; the speaker wrote it without knowing the secret.
- In plain terms
- Poetry reveals life's secret, even unknowingly.
- What can you take from it?
- Art can uncover truths we aren't aware of.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What makes a poetic line feel secretive?
- Can we trust intuition in art?
Another view
Interpretation is subjective and may not hold universal truth.
More from Denise Levertov
The world is not with us enough. O taste and see.
Permalink to quote #6 I love them for finding what I can't find, and for loving me for the line I wrote, and for forgetting it so that a thousand times, till death finds them, they …
Permalink to quote #8 I like the juicy stem of grass that grows within the coarser leaf folded round, and the butteryellow glow in the narrow flute from which the morning-glory open…
Permalink to quote #5
Related quotes
When old words die out on the tongue, new melodies break forth from the heart; and where the old tracks are lost, new country is revealed with its wonders. ~ 37
Rabindranath TagoreRabindranath Tagore quote #6 I realized that it was not by wisdom that poets write their poetry, but by a kind of nature or inspiration, such as you find in seers and prophets; for these a…
SocratesSocrates quote #10 The trouble with him was that he was without imagination. He was quick and alert in the things of life, but only in the things, and not in the significances.
Jack LondonJack London quote #1