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About this quote

What does it mean?
A brief statement that Dowland is always sorrowful.
In plain terms
Dowland is forever sad.
What can you take from it?
Recognize recurring melancholy in art.

Where it applies

  • when listening to Dowland
  • in reflective moments

Putting it to work

  • study his music
  • compare with other composers

Questions to consider

  • Does constant sorrow limit artistic range?
  • Can sadness be a creative force?

Another view

Overgeneralizing may ignore his varied works.

More from John Dowland

  1. Hark you shadows that in darkness dwell, Learn to contemn light, Happy, happy they that in hell Feel not the world's despite.

    Permalink to quote #4

  2. He was the rarest musician that his age did behold; having travelled beyond the seas, and compounded English with foreign skill in that faculty.

    Permalink to quote #6

  3. Flow my tears, fall from your springs, Exil'd for ever: let me mourn Where night's black bird her sad infamy sings, There let me live forlorn.

    Permalink to quote #3

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