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About this quote

What does it mean?
The speaker is unsure if the cuckoo is a bird or just a voice.
In plain terms
I hear the cuckoo and don't know if it's a bird or a voice.
What can you take from it?
Accept mystery in what you perceive.

Where it applies

  • contemplation
  • poetry
  • nature observation

Putting it to work

  • wonder
  • listen closely
  • write

Questions to consider

  • What do you question about what you see?
  • Is truth in sight or sound?

Another view

Denying physical reality can limit understanding.

More from William Wordsworth

  1. Bright flower! whose home is everywhere Bold in maternal nature's care And all the long year through the heir Of joy or sorrow, Methinks that there abides in t…

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  2. No bird, but an invisible thing, A voice, a mystery.

    Permalink to quote #24
  3. Of vast circumference and gloom profound, This solitary Tree! A living thing Produced too slowly ever to decay; Of form and aspect too magnificent To be destro…

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