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About this quote

What does it mean?
Poetry transforms pain into something elevated and beautiful.
In plain terms
Only poetry can turn pain into something great.
What can you take from it?
Art can turn suffering into meaning.

Where it applies

  • writing creatively
  • processing grief

Putting it to work

  • using art to heal
  • creating meaning

Questions to consider

  • How does art help you cope?
  • Can pain truly be transcended?

Another view

Not all pain can or should be turned into art.

More from Edith Hamilton

  1. 'All things are at odds when God lets a thinker loose on this planet.'

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  2. A people's literature is the great textbook for real knowledge of them. The writings of the day show the quality of the people as no historical reconstruction …

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  3. 'All things are to be examined and called into question. There are no limits set to thought.'

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