Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
The quote compares flowing blood to the rising of collective sorrow moving silently toward the sea.
In plain terms
Sorrow flows from a wounded heart like blood from a tree into the ocean.
What can you take from it?
Pain and grief move constantly through the world.

Where it applies

  • mourning
  • poetic reflection
  • nature metaphors

Putting it to work

  • describing grief
  • nature writing

Questions to consider

  • How does sorrow move through nature?
  • What flows like blood?

Another view

The imagery relies heavily on symbolic trees that may not be widely recognized.

More from George Darley

  1. Half-buried to her flaming breast In this bright tree, she makes her nest, Hundred-sunned Phoenix! when she must Crumble at length to hoary dust!

    Permalink to quote #3
  2. Sweet in her green dell the flower of beauty slumbers, Lull'd by the faint breezes sighing through her hair; Sleeps she and hears not the melancholy numbers Br…

    Permalink to quote #5
  3. Give me, instead of beauty's bust, A tender heart, a loyal mind, Which with temptation I could trust, Yet never linked with error find.

    Permalink to quote #2

Related quotes

  1. Oh salty sea, how much of your salt / is tears from Portugal

    Fernando PessoaFernando Pessoa quote #12
  2. 'Twas when the seas were roaring With hollow blasts of wind, A damsel lay deploring, All on a rock reclined.

    John GayJohn Gay quote #1
  3. We hear the wail of the remorseful winds In their strange penance. And this wretched orb Knows not the taste of rest; a maniac world, Homeless and sobbing thro…

    Alexander SmithAlexander Smith quote #1