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About this quote

What does it mean?
A repetitive image of men crossing a bridge into a village.
In plain terms
The scene repeats, emphasizing movement into community.
What can you take from it?
Repetition can highlight the significance of a simple act.

Where it applies

  • travel
  • migration

Putting it to work

  • use repetition in storytelling
  • highlight everyday rituals

Questions to consider

  • What does the bridge symbolize?
  • Why repeat the image?

Another view

The line may be too vague to convey a clear message.

More from Wallace Stevens

  1. This is old song That will not declare itself...

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  2. The boots of the men clump On the boards of the bridge. The first white wall of the village Rises through fruit-trees. Of what was it I was thinking? So the me…

    Permalink to quote #42
  3. 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.

    Permalink to quote #39

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