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About this quote

What does it mean?
An old song refuses to reveal its meaning or purpose explicitly.
In plain terms
Old songs keep their meaning hidden.
What can you take from it?
Accept that some things remain mysterious.

Where it applies

  • listening to music
  • interpreting art
  • contemplating history

Putting it to work

  • listening without analysis
  • writing about ambiguity
  • studying symbolism

Questions to consider

  • What does this song hide?
  • Why do some things stay silent?

Another view

The line is very short and offers little context for deep interpretation.

More from Wallace Stevens

  1. Twenty men crossing a bridge, Into a village, Are twenty men crossing twenty bridges, Into twenty villages, Or one man Crossing a single bridge into a village.

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  2. Twenty men crossing a bridge, Into a village, Are Twenty men crossing a bridge Into a village.

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  3. My candle burned alone in an immense valley. Beams of the huge night converged upon it, Until the wind blew. Then beams of the huge night Converged upon its im…

    Permalink to quote #38

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