--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Time gives poetry to a battlefield..." description: "\"“Time gives poetry to a battlefield...”\" — Graham Greene" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3e8/graham-greene-441_battlefield_time-gives-poetry-to-a-battlefield-919_919.jpg" --- # Time gives poetry to a battlefield... ![“Time gives poetry to a battlefield...” quote by Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3e8/graham-greene-441_battlefield_time-gives-poetry-to-a-battlefield-919_919.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3e8/graham-greene-441_battlefield_time-gives-poetry-to-a-battlefield-919_919.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3e8/graham-greene-441_battlefield_time-gives-poetry-to-a-battlefield-919_919.jpg) > ““Time gives poetry to a battlefield...”” [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Time transforms the chaos of conflict into a poetic narrative, granting meaning and aesthetic distance. **In simple terms:** Time romanticizes war. Key Takeaway Chronology adds lyrical perspective. Themes temporal perception war and art memory narrative framing beauty in tragedy Mood melancholic nostalgic poetic Type literary reflective When to use this quote - historical analysis - war memoirs - film storytelling - memorial design Key Concepts time's effect poetic interpretation conflict representation Practical Applications - writing reflective essays - creating commemorative art Questions to Reflect On - Why does distance make tragedy more palatable? - Can poetic framing diminish the urgency of remembering? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Battlefield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/battlefield/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) ## Related quotes > [“It was a city to visit, not a city to live in, but it was the city where Wormold had first fallen in love…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/it-was-a-city-to-visit-not-a-city-to-live-in-but-it-was-the-city/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [He who gives money gives some, he who gives time gives more, and he who gives of himself gives all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-s-monson/he-who-gives-money-gives-some-he-who-gives-time-gives-more-and-he-who/) [Thomas S. Monson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-s-monson/) > [Not every time its you who gives, sometimes you have to think about saving one for yourself so when shit happens you have something…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/not-every-time-its-you-who-gives-sometimes-you-have-to-think-about/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Mindfulness gives you time. Time gives you choices. Choices, skillfully made, lead to freedom. You don't have to be swept away by your feeling.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/mindfulness-gives-you-time-time-gives-you-choices-choices-skillfully/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Time makes things tolerable. Time gives you perspective on events that shake your world to the core. Time allows you to move forward. But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-l-griffin/time-makes-things-tolerable-time-gives-you-perspective-on-events-that/) [R.L. Griffin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-l-griffin/) > [“Time gives our lives numerous opportunities demarcated into moments that allow us to connect the dots while looking back.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-harper/time-gives-our-lives-numerous-opportunities-demarcated-into-moments/) [Oliver Harper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-harper/) > [I need not instruct you of my belief: Time gives all and takes all away ; everything changes but nothing perishes ; One only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giordano-bruno/i-need-not-instruct-you-of-my-belief-time-gives-all-and-takes-all/) [Giordano Bruno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/giordano-bruno/) > [“It is the investment of time that gives birth to success”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sunday-adelaja/it-is-the-investment-of-time-that-gives-birth-to-success/) [Sunday Adelaja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sunday-adelaja/) > [Being alone is a time that gives you an opportunity to think .](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/being-alone-is-a-time-that-gives-you-an-opportunity-to-think/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I was discovering that the most precious gift someone can give us is time, because what gives time its value is death.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ingrid-betancourt/i-was-discovering-that-the-most-precious-gift-someone-can-give-us-is/) [Ingrid Betancourt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ingrid-betancourt/) > [Hours and days and months and years go by; the past returns no more, and what is to be we cannot know; but whatever…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-tullius-cicero/hours-and-days-and-months-and-years-go-by-the-past-returns-no-more/) [Marcus Tullius Cicero](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-tullius-cicero/) > [Time gives space to heal again](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cath-chatto/time-gives-space-to-heal-again/) [Cath Chatto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cath-chatto/) > [Opinions, theories, and systems pass by turns over the grindstone of time, which at first gives them brilliancy and sharpness, but finally wears them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antoine-rivarol/opinions-theories-and-systems-pass-by-turns-over-the-grindstone-of/) [Antoine Rivarol](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antoine-rivarol/) > [Time gives growth, it gives continuity and it gives change. And in the case of some sculptures, time gives a patina to them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andy-goldsworthy/time-gives-growth-it-gives-continuity-and-it-gives-change-and-in-the/) [Andy Goldsworthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andy-goldsworthy/) > [“The often heard lament, “I have so little time,” gives the lie to the delusion that the daily is of little significance. Everyone has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathleen-norris/the-often-heard-lament-i-have-so-little-time-gives-the-lie-to-the/) [Kathleen Norris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathleen-norris/) ## More by Graham Greene > [“What is cowardice in the young is wisdom in the old, but all the same one can be ashamed of wisdom.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/what-is-cowardice-in-the-young-is-wisdom-in-the-old-but-all-the-same/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [Pity is cruel. Pity destroys.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/pity-is-cruel-pity-destroys/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [Hate is a lack of imagination.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/hate-is-a-lack-of-imagination/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [Despair is the price one pays for setting oneself an impossible aim. It is, one is told, the unforgivable sin, but it is a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/despair-is-the-price-one-pays-for-setting-oneself-an-impossible-aim/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [“Knowledge was the great thing--not abstract knowledge in which Dr. Forester had been so rich, the theories which lead one enticingly on with their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/knowledge-was-the-great-thing-not-abstract-knowledge-in-which-dr/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [With Your great schemes, You ruin our happiness like a harvester ruins a mouse's nest: I hate You, God, I hate You as though…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/with-your-great-schemes-you-ruin-our-happiness-like-a-harvester-ruins/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [Heresy is only another word for freedom of thought.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/heresy-is-only-another-word-for-freedom-of-thought/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [“He had thought that home was something one possessed, but the things one had possessed were cursed with change; it was what one didn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/he-had-thought-that-home-was-something-one-possessed-but-the-things/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [Perhaps the comparison is closer to the Chinese cook who leaves hardly any part of a duck unserved.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/perhaps-the-comparison-is-closer-to-the-chinese-cook-who-leaves/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [“He said, ‘Oh god, help her. Damn me, I deserve it, but let her live forever.’ This was the love he should have felt…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/he-said-oh-god-help-her-damn-me-i-deserve-it-but-let-her-live-forever/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [“A police photograph is like a passport photograph: the intelligence which casts a veil over the crude common shape is never recorded by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/a-police-photograph-is-like-a-passport-photograph-the-intelligence/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [ “I tossed up whether I'd see \[the critic\] or not: I knew too well the pompous phrases of his article, the buried significance he… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/i-tossed-up-whether-i-d-see-the-critic-or-not-i-knew-too-well-the/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [Success is more dangerous than failure, the ripples break over a wider coastline.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/success-is-more-dangerous-than-failure-the-ripples-break-over-a-wider/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [“But we do not love people for what they do for us. Love happens to us; it isn't created.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/but-we-do-not-love-people-for-what-they-do-for-us-love-happens-to-us/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [Perhaps the sexual life is the great test. If we can survive it with charity to those we love and with affection to those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/perhaps-the-sexual-life-is-the-great-test-if-we-can-survive-it-with/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) [Explore all 550 Graham Greene quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) ## More Battlefield quotes > [“life is our battlefield. We must do what we know to do, not what we want to do.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brent-weeks/life-is-our-battlefield-we-must-do-what-we-know-to-do-not-what-we/) [Brent Weeks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brent-weeks/) > [Men grow old quickly on the battlefield.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/napoleon-bonaparte/men-grow-old-quickly-on-the-battlefield/) [Napoleon Bonaparte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/napoleon-bonaparte/) > [I'd rather die humbly on a battlefield , surround w/ my military brother's and sister's , in life or too not die at all .](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/napoleon-natorious-rabb/i-d-rather-die-humbly-on-a-battlefield-surround-w-my-military-brother/) [Napoleon Natorious Rabb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/napoleon-natorious-rabb/) > [“Those mornings were fragile things — like flowers blooming in the middle of a battlefield. She hadn’t realized then that the soil beneath them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maggie-sn/those-mornings-were-fragile-things-like-flowers-blooming-in-the/) Maggie Sn > ['Battlefield' was one of those slow-building songs, the way 'Tattoo' was. It was kind of a word-of-mouth hit. The more people heard it, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jordin-sparks/battlefield-was-one-of-those-slow-building-songs-the-way-tattoo-was/) [Jordin Sparks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jordin-sparks/) > [When I got to write for the 'Battlefield' record, it was almost therapeutic. I had gone through a few things in the two years…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jordin-sparks/when-i-got-to-write-for-the-battlefield-record-it-was-almost/) [Jordin Sparks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jordin-sparks/) > [What's always got me is the fact that when people talked on the telly about Iraq, before Afghanistan kicked off, you'd get only these…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-kemp/what-s-always-got-me-is-the-fact-that-when-people-talked-on-the-telly/) [Ross Kemp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-kemp/) > [When I am in the battlefield, I love it more then my wedding night with the most beautiful of women](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/khalid-ibn-al-walid/when-i-am-in-the-battlefield-i-love-it-more-then-my-wedding-night/) [Khalid ibn al-Walid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/khalid-ibn-al-walid/) > [There is no God-given right to victory on the battlefield. You win that through the skill and the devotion, the valor and the ferocity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-mattis/there-is-no-god-given-right-to-victory-on-the-battlefield-you-win/) [Jim Mattis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-mattis/) > [The most important 6 inches on the battlefield is between your ears.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-mattis/the-most-important-6-inches-on-the-battlefield-is-between-your-ears/) [Jim Mattis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-mattis/) > [The GRU is used for both tactical intelligence collection in the battlefield in support of Russian military operations and also strategic active measures or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dmitri-alperovitch/the-gru-is-used-for-both-tactical-intelligence-collection-in-the/) [Dmitri Alperovitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dmitri-alperovitch/) > [When you're on a battlefield, you should know how to fight your way to victory, and you've to be very well-prepared for it. You've…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johnny-lever/when-you-re-on-a-battlefield-you-should-know-how-to-fight-your-way-to/) [Johnny Lever](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johnny-lever/) > [When you're in the battlefield, survival is all there is.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-fuller/when-you-re-in-the-battlefield-survival-is-all-there-is/) [Samuel Fuller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-fuller/) > [A Warrior of the Light cannot always choose his battlefield.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-coelho/a-warrior-of-the-light-cannot-always-choose-his-battlefield/) [Paulo Coelho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-coelho/) > [Strife brings all things into being on her battlefield. This I know. I have been there many times," says Vashanka, lord of sack and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-morris/strife-brings-all-things-into-being-on-her-battlefield-this-i-know-i/) [Janet Morris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-morris/) [Browse all 177 Battlefield quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/battlefield/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Time gives poetry to a battlefield...”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Graham Greene" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/time-gives-poetry-to-a-battlefield/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Battlefield" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/time-gives-poetry-to-a-battlefield/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3e8/graham-greene-441_battlefield_time-gives-poetry-to-a-battlefield-919_919.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3e8/graham-greene-441_battlefield_time-gives-poetry-to-a-battlefield-919_919.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3e8/graham-greene-441_battlefield_time-gives-poetry-to-a-battlefield-919_919.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Time gives poetry to a battlefield...” — Graham Greene", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Graham Greene", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Time gives poetry to a battlefield...”", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/time-gives-poetry-to-a-battlefield/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/time-gives-poetry-to-a-battlefield/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```