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About this quote

What does it mean?
The speaker is overwhelmed by the sight of a young woman's death and cannot bear to look at her face.
In plain terms
He cannot look at her because she died too young.
What can you take from it?
Death at a young age shocks and blinds the living.

Where it applies

  • mourning a young person
  • viewing a corpse
  • expressing grief

Putting it to work

  • writing about grief
  • memorializing the dead
  • reflecting on mortality

Questions to consider

  • How do we cope with sudden loss?
  • What does seeing death do to us?

Another view

The phrase is poetic and may not reflect literal physical reaction.

More from John Webster

  1. Heaven-gates are not so highly arched As princes' palaces; they that enter there Must go upon their knees.

    Permalink to quote #11

  2. Whether we fall by ambition, blood, or lust, Like diamonds, we are cut with our own dust.

    Permalink to quote #13

  3. I know death hath ten thousand several doors For men to take their exits.

    Permalink to quote #10

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