Deprivation is for me what daffodils were for Wordsworth.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Larkin finds inspiration in hardship, similar to how Wordsworth found it in nature.
- In plain terms
- I need lack to feel alive, like he needed flowers.
- What can you take from it?
- Hardship can fuel creativity and meaning.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What hardships have inspired you?
- Do you need comfort or struggle to create?
Another view
It romanticizes suffering as a necessary condition for art.
More from Philip Larkin
The first day after a death, the new absence Is always the same; we should be careful Of each other, we should be kind While there is still time.
Permalink to quote #3 They fuck you up, your mum and dad. They may not mean to, but they do. They fill you with the faults they had And add some extra, just for you.
Permalink to quote #2 Get stewed: Books are a load of crap.
Permalink to quote #1
Related quotes
With a sudden sharp hot stink of fox, It enters the dark hole of the head. The window is starless still; the clock ticks, The page is printed.
Ted HughesTed Hughes quote #2 Upon the brink of the wild stream He stood, and dreamt a mighty dream.
Aleksandr PushkinAleksandr Pushkin quote #2 Before comfort had been squeezed out of the hard land, like blood out of stone.
V.S. NaipaulV.S. Naipaul quote #8