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About this quote

What does it mean?
Sirens sing that mortals are faithless while the kings of the sea dwell alone forever.
In plain terms
The sea kings say mortals break faith but they live alone forever.
What can you take from it?
Consider the cost of immortality versus human connection.

Where it applies

  • mythology
  • philosophy
  • art

Putting it to work

  • value loyalty
  • reflect on legacy
  • explore myths

Questions to consider

  • Is eternal life worth the loneliness?
  • What does faithfulness mean to you?

Another view

The perspective depends on whose side of the myth you believe.

More from Matthew Arnold

  1. Where great whales come sailing by, Sail and sail, with unshut eye, Round the world for ever and aye? When did music come this way? Children dear, was it yeste…

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  2. Fate gave, what Chance shall not control, His sad lucidity of soul.

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  3. Sand-strewn caverns, cool and deep, Where the winds are all asleep.

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