They shall not live who have not tasted death. They only sing who are struck dumb by God.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- The speaker claims that true living requires facing death and true singing comes from divine silence.
- In plain terms
- You must know death to live and be struck dumb to sing.
- What can you take from it?
- True depth comes from suffering and silence.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Does suffering give depth?
- Is silence needed for art?
Another view
The claim that only the struck dumb sing is exclusionary.
More from Joyce Kilmer
Yes, God forgives and men forget, And you're forgiven and forgotten. You might be gaily sinning yet And quick and fresh instead of rotten. And when you think o…
Permalink to quote #4 There is no strange and distant place That is not gladdened by His face. And every nation kneels to hail The Splendour shining through Its veil.
Permalink to quote #6 I think that I shall never see A poem lovely as a tree. A tree whose hungry mouth is prest Against the earth's sweet flowing breast; A tree that looks at God a…
Permalink to quote #3
Related quotes
I see at last that all the knowledge I wrung from the darkness - that the darkness flung me - Is worthless as ignorance: nothing comes from nothing, The darkne…
Randall JarrellRandall Jarrell quote #10 But where does by far the bulk, the whole ambulance load, of pain really come from? Where must it come from? Isn't the true poet or painter a seer? Isn't he, a…
J. D. SalingerJ. D. Salinger quote #38 Yo soy un hombre sincero De donde crece la palma Y antes de morirme quiero Echar mis versos del alma.
Jose MartiJose Marti quote #43