“ Poetry uses the rainbow tints for special effects, but always keeps its essential object in the purest white light of truth. ”
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table (1858). copy citation
| Author | Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. |
|---|---|
| Source | The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table |
| Topic | truth poetry light |
| Date | 1858 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/751/751-h/751-h.htm |
Context
“We get beautiful effects from wit,—all the prismatic colors,—but never the object as it is in fair daylight. A pun, which is a kind if wit, is a different and much shallower trick in mental optics throwing the shadows of two objects so that one overlies the other. Poetry uses the rainbow tints for special effects, but always keeps its essential object in the purest white light of truth.—Will you allow me to pursue this subject a little further?
[They didn't allow me at that time, for somebody happened to scrape the floor with his chair just then; which accidental sound, as all must have noticed, has the instantaneous effect that the cutting of the yellow hair by Iris had upon infelix Dido.” source
[They didn't allow me at that time, for somebody happened to scrape the floor with his chair just then; which accidental sound, as all must have noticed, has the instantaneous effect that the cutting of the yellow hair by Iris had upon infelix Dido.” source
Meaning and analysis
