--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: When I examine my mind and try to discern…" description: "\"“When I examine my mind and try to discern clearly in the matter, I cannot satisfy myself that there are any such things as poetical ideas. No truth, i..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aee/a-e-housman-2-12514_poetry_when-i-examine-my-mind-and-try-to-discer_2229500.jpg" --- # When I examine my mind and try to discern clearly in the… ![“When I examine my mind and try to discern clearly in the matter, I cannot satisfy myself that there are any such things as poetical ideas. No truth, it seems to me, is too precious, no observation too profound, and no sentiment too exalted to be expressed in prose. The utmost I could admit is that…” quote by A.E. Housman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aee/a-e-housman-2-12514_poetry_when-i-examine-my-mind-and-try-to-discer_2229500.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aee/a-e-housman-2-12514_poetry_when-i-examine-my-mind-and-try-to-discer_2229500.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aee/a-e-housman-2-12514_poetry_when-i-examine-my-mind-and-try-to-discer_2229500.jpg) > ““When I examine my mind and try to discern clearly in the matter, I cannot satisfy myself that there are any such things as poetical ideas. No truth, it seems to me, is too precious, no observation too profound, and no sentiment too exalted to be expressed in prose. The utmost I could admit is that some ideas do, while others do not, lend themselves kindly to poetical expression; and that those receive from poetry an enhancement which glorifies and almost transfigures them, and which is not perceived to be a separate thing except by analysis.”” [A.E. Housman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-e-housman-2/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The author argues that poetry is not a separate realm of ideas; prose can convey any truth, observation, or sentiment, and only some ideas benefit from poetic form, which merely enhances them. **In simple terms:** Poetry isn’t a unique source of ideas; prose can express everything. Key Takeaway Use prose for clarity; reserve poetry for aesthetic enhancement. Themes literature philosophy artistic expression Mood reflective analytical Type philosophical critical When to use this quote - academic writing - creative writing - literary criticism - teaching writing Key Concepts poetic enhancement prose capability ideation Questions to Reflect On - What ideas do you feel need poetic form? - When does prose fail to inspire? A Different Perspective Poetry may still capture emotional nuance that prose cannot. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Expressed Prose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/expressed-prose-3172534/) [Poetical Expression](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetical-expression-4406319/) [Poetical Ideas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetical-ideas-4283649/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Poetry Enhancement](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry-enhancement-5010082/) [Psychology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychology/) [Things Poetical](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/things-poetical-3220477/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [No revolutionary movement is complete without its poetical expression.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-connolly/no-revolutionary-movement-is-complete-without-its-poetical-expression/) [James Connolly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-connolly/) > [As to the pure mind all things are pure, so to the poetic mind all things are poetical.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-wadsworth-longfellow/as-to-the-pure-mind-all-things-are-pure-so-to-the-poetic-mind-all/) [Henry Wadsworth Longfellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-wadsworth-longfellow/) > [It is no longer possible for lyric poetry to express the immensity of our experience. 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Hope lies to mortals And most believe her, But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-e-housman-2/i-to-my-perils-of-cheat-and-charmer-came-clad-in-armour-by-stars/) [A.E. Housman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-e-housman-2/) > [“There pass the careless people That call their souls their own: Here by the road I loiter, How idle and alone. Ah, past the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-e-housman-2/there-pass-the-careless-people-that-call-their-souls-their-own-here/) [A.E. Housman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-e-housman-2/) > [“Smart lad, to slip betimes away From fields where glory does not stay And early though the laurel grows It withers quicker than the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-e-housman-2/smart-lad-to-slip-betimes-away-from-fields-where-glory-does-not-stay/) [A.E. Housman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-e-housman-2/) > [“Oh on my breast in days hereafter Light the earth should lie, Such weight to bear is now the air, So heavy hangs the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-e-housman-2/oh-on-my-breast-in-days-hereafter-light-the-earth-should-lie-such/) [A.E. Housman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-e-housman-2/) > [“Oh many a peer of England brews Livelier liquor than the Muse, And malt does more than Milton can To justify God’s ways to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-e-housman-2/oh-many-a-peer-of-england-brews-livelier-liquor-than-the-muse-and/) [A.E. Housman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-e-housman-2/) > [“In my own shire, if I was sad Homely comforters I had: The earth, because my heart was sore, Sorrowed for the son she…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-e-housman-2/in-my-own-shire-if-i-was-sad-homely-comforters-i-had-the-earth/) [A.E. Housman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-e-housman-2/) > [“If it chance your eye offends you, Pluck it out lad, and be sound: 'Twill hurt, but here are salves to friend you, And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-e-housman-2/if-it-chance-your-eye-offends-you-pluck-it-out-lad-and-be-sound-twill/) [A.E. Housman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-e-housman-2/) > [“They say my verse is sad: no wonder. Its narrow measure spans Rue for eternity, and sorrow Not mine, but man's This is for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-e-housman-2/they-say-my-verse-is-sad-no-wonder-its-narrow-measure-spans-rue-for/) [A.E. Housman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-e-housman-2/) > [“Diffugere Nives Horace, Odes, iv, 7 The snows are fled away, leaves on the shaws And grasses in the mead renew their birth, The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-e-housman-2/diffugere-nives-horace-odes-iv-7-the-snows-are-fled-away-leaves-on/) [A.E. Housman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-e-housman-2/) > [“The time you won your town the race We chaired you through the market-place; Man and boy stood cheering by, And home we brought…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-e-housman-2/the-time-you-won-your-town-the-race-we-chaired-you-through-the-market/) [A.E. Housman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-e-housman-2/) > [“Along the field as we came by A year ago, my love and I, The aspen over stile and stone Was talking to itself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-e-housman-2/along-the-field-as-we-came-by-a-year-ago-my-love-and-i-the-aspen-over/) [A.E. Housman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-e-housman-2/) > [“Knowledge is good, method is good, but one thing beyond all others is necessary; and that is to have a head, not a pumpkin,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-e-housman-2/knowledge-is-good-method-is-good-but-one-thing-beyond-all-others-is/) [A.E. Housman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-e-housman-2/) > [“It nods and curtseys and recovers When the wind blows above, The nettle on the graves of lovers That hanged themselves for love. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-e-housman-2/it-nods-and-curtseys-and-recovers-when-the-wind-blows-above-the/) [A.E. Housman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-e-housman-2/) > [“Oh fair enough are sky and plain, But I know fairer far: Those are as beautiful again That in the water are; The pools…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-e-housman-2/oh-fair-enough-are-sky-and-plain-but-i-know-fairer-far-those-are-as/) [A.E. Housman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-e-housman-2/) > [“Iniquity it is; but pass the can. My lad, no pair of kings our mothers bore; Our only portion is the estate of man:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-e-housman-2/iniquity-it-is-but-pass-the-can-my-lad-no-pair-of-kings-our-mothers/) [A.E. Housman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-e-housman-2/) [Explore all 54 A.E. Housman quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-e-housman-2/) ## More Poetry quotes > [I fell in love with social work, and that was my undoing as a poet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-rakosi/i-fell-in-love-with-social-work-and-that-was-my-undoing-as-a-poet/) [Carl Rakosi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-rakosi/) > [The name Phenomenal Woman was inspired by Maya Angelo, who wrote 'Phenomenal Woman', a favorite poem of mine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meena-harris/the-name-phenomenal-woman-was-inspired-by-maya-angelo-who-wrote/) [Meena Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meena-harris/) > [A poet is wounded into speech, and he examines these wounds, meticulously, to discover how to heal them. The bad poet harangues at the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-r-delany/a-poet-is-wounded-into-speech-and-he-examines-these-wounds/) [Samuel R. Delany](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-r-delany/) > [“Time gives poetry to a battlefield...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/time-gives-poetry-to-a-battlefield/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [The poetry from the eighteenth century was prose; the prose from the seventeenth century was poetry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hare/the-poetry-from-the-eighteenth-century-was-prose-the-prose-from-the/) [David Hare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-hare/) > [“It took me years to learn to sit at my desk for more than two minutes at a time, to put up with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/it-took-me-years-to-learn-to-sit-at-my-desk-for-more-than-two-minutes/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [The word 'mundane' has come to mean 'boring' and 'dull', and it really shouldn't - it should mean the opposite. Because it comes from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/the-word-mundane-has-come-to-mean-boring-and-dull-and-it-really/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [“In the streets, the children scream, the lovers cried, and the poets dreamed,” he crooned, putting down the metal grill tongs to take my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexandria-clarke/in-the-streets-the-children-scream-the-lovers-cried-and-the-poets/) [Alexandria Clarke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexandria-clarke/) > [Some minds corrode and grow inactive under the loss of personal liberty; others grow morbid and irritable; but it is the nature of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/washington-irving/some-minds-corrode-and-grow-inactive-under-the-loss-of-personal/) [Washington Irving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/washington-irving/) > [You don’t read or overhear the voice in the poem, you are the voice in the poem.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-vendler/you-don-t-read-or-overhear-the-voice-in-the-poem-you-are-the-voice-in/) [Helen Vendler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-vendler/) > [All lyrical work must, as a whole, be perfectly intelligible, but in some particulars a little unintelligible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/all-lyrical-work-must-as-a-whole-be-perfectly-intelligible-but-in/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [The world's history is a divine poem, of which the history of every nation is a canto, and every man a word. 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