--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Sheltered Garden\" I have had enough. I…" description: "\"“Sheltered Garden\" I have had enough. I gasp for breath. Every way ends, every road, every foot-path leads at last to the hill-crest-- then you retrace..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b5a/hilda-doolittle-7061_beauty_sheltered-garden-i-have-had-enough-i-gas_32078.jpg" --- # Sheltered Garden" I have had enough. I gasp for breath… ![“Sheltered Garden" I have had enough. I gasp for breath. Every way ends, every road, every foot-path leads at last to the hill-crest-- then you retrace your steps, or find the same slope on the other side, precipitate. I have had enough-- border-pinks, clove-pinks, wax-lilies, herbs, sweet-cress. O…” quote by Hilda Doolittle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b5a/hilda-doolittle-7061_beauty_sheltered-garden-i-have-had-enough-i-gas_32078.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b5a/hilda-doolittle-7061_beauty_sheltered-garden-i-have-had-enough-i-gas_32078.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b5a/hilda-doolittle-7061_beauty_sheltered-garden-i-have-had-enough-i-gas_32078.jpg) > ““Sheltered Garden" I have had enough. I gasp for breath. Every way ends, every road, every foot-path leads at last to the hill-crest-- then you retrace your steps, or find the same slope on the other side, precipitate. I have had enough-- border-pinks, clove-pinks, wax-lilies, herbs, sweet-cress. O for some sharp swish of a branch-- there is no scent of resin in this place, no taste of bark, of coarse weeds, aromatic, astringent-- only border on border of scented pinks. Have you seen fruit under cover that wanted light-- pears wadded in cloth, protected from the frost, melons, almost ripe, smothered in straw? Why not let the pears cling to the empty branch? All your coaxing will only make a bitter fruit-- let them cling, ripen of themselves, test their own worth, nipped, shrivelled by the frost, to fall at last but fair With a russet coat. Or the melon-- let it bleach yellow in the winter light, even tart to the taste-- it is better to taste of frost-- the exquisite frost-- than of wadding and of dead grass. For this beauty, beauty without strength, chokes out life. I want wind to break, scatter these pink-stalks, snap off their spiced heads, fling them about with dead leaves-- spread the paths with twigs, limbs broken off, trail great pine branches, hurled from some far wood right across the melon-patch, break pear and quince-- leave half-trees, torn, twisted but showing the fight was valiant. O to blot out this garden to forget, to find a new beauty in some terrible wind-tortured place.”” [Hilda Doolittle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilda-doolittle/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A plea for harsh reality over sheltered comfort, urging growth through adversity rather than artificial protection. **In simple terms:** Nature's harshness cultivates authentic strength. Key Takeaway Embrace struggle to achieve true vitality. Themes Nature Growth Adversity Authenticity Transformation Mood Urgent Defiant Reflective Type Philosophical Nature metaphor When to use this quote - Creative burnout - Overprotective parenting - Stagnant career - Cultural conformity Key Concepts Sheltered vs. wild Natural cycles Resilience Practical Applications - Encourage risk‑taking in art - Design curricula that include failure Questions to Reflect On - What comforts are you clinging to that hinder growth? - How might controlled hardship reshape your path? A Different Perspective Some argue that gentle nurturing can also foster deep development without trauma. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Beauty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beauty/) [Garden Gasp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/garden-gasp-429827/) [Let Pears](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/let-pears-429826/) [Paths Twigs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/paths-twigs-429828/) [Pear](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pear/) [Sheltered Garden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sheltered-garden-429825/) ## Related quotes > [Of course you know him. Everyone knows a pear-shaped man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/of-course-you-know-him-everyone-knows-a-pear-shaped-man/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Pear Drops were exciting because they had a dangerous taste. All of us were warned against eating them, and the result was that we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roald-dahl/pear-drops-were-exciting-because-they-had-a-dangerous-taste-all-of-us/) [Roald Dahl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roald-dahl/) > [Near our vineyard there was a pear tree laden with fruit that was not attractive in either flavor or form. One night, when I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-augustine/near-our-vineyard-there-was-a-pear-tree-laden-with-fruit-that-was-not/) [Saint Augustine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saint-augustine/) > [I know things can go pear-shaped.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mel-giedroyc/i-know-things-can-go-pear-shaped/) [Mel Giedroyc](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mel-giedroyc/) > [Love is like a pear. Pear is sweet and has a shape. Define shape of a pear.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ritu-ghatourey/love-is-like-a-pear-pear-is-sweet-and-has-a-shape-define-shape-of-a/) [Ritu Ghatourey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ritu-ghatourey/) > [Phyllis Diller's Christmas Advice : Never stand under a partride in a pear tree.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phyllis-diller/phyllis-diller-s-christmas-advice-never-stand-under-a-partride-in-a/) [Phyllis Diller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phyllis-diller/) > [“A pear, an apple, and a banana in a basket on a table isn’t art, no matter how skillfully painted. But it is something…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jarod-kintz/a-pear-an-apple-and-a-banana-in-a-basket-on-a-table-isn-t-art-no/) [Jarod Kintz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jarod-kintz/) > [God planted fear in the soul as truly as he planted hope or courage. Pear is a kind of bell, or gong, which rings…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-ward-beecher/god-planted-fear-in-the-soul-as-truly-as-he-planted-hope-or-courage/) [Henry Ward Beecher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-ward-beecher/) > [When bounteous autumn rears her head, he joys to pull the ripened pear.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dryden/when-bounteous-autumn-rears-her-head-he-joys-to-pull-the-ripened-pear/) [John Dryden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dryden/) > [There are only ten minutes in the life of a pear when it is perfect to eat.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/there-are-only-ten-minutes-in-the-life-of-a-pear-when-it-is-perfect/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [How do you like them? like a pear, a lemon, a la Montgolfier, half an apple, or a cantaloupe? Go and choose, don't be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sidonie-gabrielle/how-do-you-like-them-like-a-pear-a-lemon-a-la-montgolfier-half-an/) [Sidonie Gabrielle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sidonie-gabrielle/) > [“We have been careless with our pie repertoire. The demise of apple-pear pie with figs and saffron and orengeado pies are tragic losses.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-clarkson/we-have-been-careless-with-our-pie-repertoire-the-demise-of-apple/) [Janet Clarkson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-clarkson/) > [A pear-tree planted nigh: 'Twas charg'd with fruit that made a goodly show, And hung with dangling pears was every bough.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-pope/a-pear-tree-planted-nigh-twas-charg-d-with-fruit-that-made-a-goodly/) [Alexander Pope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-pope/) > [Slice a pear and you will find that its flesh is incandescent white. It glows with inner light. Those who carry a knife and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yann-martel/slice-a-pear-and-you-will-find-that-its-flesh-is-incandescent-white/) [Yann Martel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yann-martel/) > [“Pears can just fuck off too. 'Cause they're gorgeous little beasts, but they're ripe for half an hour, and you're never there. They're like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eddie-izzard/pears-can-just-fuck-off-too-cause-they-re-gorgeous-little-beasts-but/) [Eddie Izzard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eddie-izzard/) ## More by Hilda Doolittle > [That way of inspiration is always open, and open to everyone; it acts as go-between, interpreter, it explains symbols of the past in to-day's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilda-doolittle/that-way-of-inspiration-is-always-open-and-open-to-everyone-it-acts/) [Hilda Doolittle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilda-doolittle/) > [Could beauty be beaten out, O youth the cities have sent to strike at each other's strength, it is you who have kept her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilda-doolittle/could-beauty-be-beaten-out-o-youth-the-cities-have-sent-to-strike-at/) [Hilda Doolittle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilda-doolittle/) > [The Christos-image is most difficult to disentangle from its art-craft junk-shop paint-and-plaster medieval jumble of pain-worship and death-symbol.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilda-doolittle/the-christos-image-is-most-difficult-to-disentangle-from-its-art/) [Hilda Doolittle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilda-doolittle/) > [When you would think, "what was the use of it," you'll remember something you can't grasp and you'll wonder what it was.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilda-doolittle/when-you-would-think-what-was-the-use-of-it-you-ll-remember-something/) [Hilda Doolittle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilda-doolittle/) > [The quivering of Psyche's butterflies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilda-doolittle/the-quivering-of-psyche-s-butterflies/) [Hilda Doolittle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilda-doolittle/) > [Thoth, Hermes, the stylus, the palette, the pen, the quill endure, though our books are a floor of smouldering ash under our feet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilda-doolittle/thoth-hermes-the-stylus-the-palette-the-pen-the-quill-endure-though/) [Hilda Doolittle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilda-doolittle/) > [My eye-balls are glass, my limbs marble, my face fixed in its marble mask.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilda-doolittle/my-eye-balls-are-glass-my-limbs-marble-my-face-fixed-in-its-marble/) [Hilda Doolittle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilda-doolittle/) > [The things I have are nameless, old and true; they may not be named; few may live and know.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilda-doolittle/the-things-i-have-are-nameless-old-and-true-they-may-not-be-named-few/) [Hilda Doolittle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilda-doolittle/) > [Soft are the hands of Love, but what soft hands clutched at the thorny ground, scratched like a small white ferret or foraging whippet…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilda-doolittle/soft-are-the-hands-of-love-but-what-soft-hands-clutched-at-the-thorny/) [Hilda Doolittle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilda-doolittle/) > [The elixir of life, the philosopher's stone is yours if you surrender sterile logic, trivial reason.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilda-doolittle/the-elixir-of-life-the-philosopher-s-stone-is-yours-if-you-surrender/) [Hilda Doolittle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilda-doolittle/) > [Until it seems the whole city will be covered with gold pollen shaken from the bell-towers, lilies plundered with the weight of massive bees . . .](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilda-doolittle/until-it-seems-the-whole-city-will-be-covered-with-gold-pollen-shaken/) [Hilda Doolittle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilda-doolittle/) > [Alas, day, you brought light, You trailed splendour You showed us god: I salute you, most precious one, But I go to a new…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilda-doolittle/alas-day-you-brought-light-you-trailed-splendour-you-showed-us-god-i/) [Hilda Doolittle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilda-doolittle/) > [Let Love step down, open the clasped hands, forfeit the thorny crown, retrieve the garment that was whole, body and spirit one, spirit and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilda-doolittle/let-love-step-down-open-the-clasped-hands-forfeit-the-thorny-crown/) [Hilda Doolittle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilda-doolittle/) > [(Those women whom the distaff no longer claims nor spun cloth) driven made, mad, mad by Bacchus.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilda-doolittle/those-women-whom-the-distaff-no-longer-claims-nor-spun-cloth-driven/) [Hilda Doolittle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilda-doolittle/) > [Take what the old-church found in Mithra's tomb, candle and script and bell, take what the new-church spat upon and broke and shattered.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilda-doolittle/take-what-the-old-church-found-in-mithra-s-tomb-candle-and-script-and/) [Hilda Doolittle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilda-doolittle/) [Explore all 95 Hilda Doolittle quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilda-doolittle/) ## More Beauty quotes > [We do not want nowadays temples of worship and outward rites and ceremonies. What we really want is an Asram. We want a place…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rabindranath-tagore/we-do-not-want-nowadays-temples-of-worship-and-outward-rites-and/) [Rabindranath Tagore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rabindranath-tagore/) > [How could anybody confuse truth with beauty, I thought as I looked at him. Truth came with sunken eyes, bony or scarred, decayed. Its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/how-could-anybody-confuse-truth-with-beauty-i-thought-as-i-looked-at/) [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) > [A thing of beauty is a joy for ever;It's loveliness increase;it will never pass into nothingness;but still will keep a bower quiet for us,and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-keats/a-thing-of-beauty-is-a-joy-for-ever-it-s-loveliness-increase-it-will/) [John Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-keats/) > [To fathom the power, to witness the beauty, to bathe in the fountain, to swing on the spiral of our divinity, and still be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tool/to-fathom-the-power-to-witness-the-beauty-to-bathe-in-the-fountain-to/) [Tool](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tool/) > [The term "black metal" has become a lot looser, or can include a larger range of sounds and extra-musical aesthetics, not just Satan and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-marston/the-term-black-metal-has-become-a-lot-looser-or-can-include-a-larger/) [Colin Marston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-marston/) > [“We've all met people who are beautiful on the outside, however, when they open their mouths to speak, they have nothing of substance to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-c-young/we-ve-all-met-people-who-are-beautiful-on-the-outside-however-when/) [Susan C. Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-c-young/) > [There are various orders of beauty, causing men to make fools of themselves in various styles.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/there-are-various-orders-of-beauty-causing-men-to-make-fools-of/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [To me, the beauty of a quilt or a dress lies within the stitches and the thought of the person who made them. When…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natalie/to-me-the-beauty-of-a-quilt-or-a-dress-lies-within-the-stitches-and/) [Natalie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natalie/) > [“do not misunderstand person by beauty You really do not know its real or Mask on dirty thoughts”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mohammed-zaki-ansari/do-not-misunderstand-person-by-beauty-you-really-do-not-know-its-real/) [Mohammed Zaki Ansari](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mohammed-zaki-ansari/) > [“I already love in you your beauty, but I am only beginning to love in you that which is eternal and ever precious –…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/i-already-love-in-you-your-beauty-but-i-am-only-beginning-to-love-in/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [The more perfect the sight is the more delightful the beautiful object. The more perfect the appetite, the sweeter the food. The more musical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-baxter/the-more-perfect-the-sight-is-the-more-delightful-the-beautiful/) [Richard Baxter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-baxter/) > [Call her beautiful a million times and she won't believe you. Call her ugly once, and she will never forget it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tumblr/call-her-beautiful-a-million-times-and-she-won-t-believe-you-call-her/) [Tumblr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tumblr/) > [Time can but make her beauty over again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/time-can-but-make-her-beauty-over-again/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [ The social \[media channel\] isn't about beauty contests and popularity contests. They're a distortion, a caricature of the real thing. It's about trust, connection,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/umair-haque/the-social-media-channel-isn-t-about-beauty-contests-and-popularity/) [Umair Haque](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umair-haque/) > [“What about you? What do you do?” I needed to ask questions, draw him out. I needed to find out all the information I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-avery-ellison/what-about-you-what-do-you-do-i-needed-to-ask-questions-draw-him-out/) [Kate Avery Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-avery-ellison/) [Browse all 24,662 Beauty quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beauty/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Sheltered Garden\" I have had enough. I gasp for breath. Every way ends, every road, every foot-path leads at last to the hill-crest-- then you retrace your steps, or find the same slope on the other side, precipitate. I have had enough-- border-pinks, clove-pinks, wax-lilies, herbs, sweet-cress. O for some sharp swish of a branch-- there is no scent of resin in this place, no taste of bark, of coarse weeds, aromatic, astringent-- only border on border of scented pinks. Have you seen fruit under cover that wanted light-- pears wadded in cloth, protected from the frost, melons, almost ripe, smothered in straw? Why not let the pears cling to the empty branch? All your coaxing will only make a bitter fruit-- let them cling, ripen of themselves, test their own worth, nipped, shrivelled by the frost, to fall at last but fair With a russet coat. Or the melon-- let it bleach yellow in the winter light, even tart to the taste-- it is better to taste of frost-- the exquisite frost-- than of wadding and of dead grass. For this beauty, beauty without strength, chokes out life. I want wind to break, scatter these pink-stalks, snap off their spiced heads, fling them about with dead leaves-- spread the paths with twigs, limbs broken off, trail great pine branches, hurled from some far wood right across the melon-patch, break pear and quince-- leave half-trees, torn, twisted but showing the fight was valiant. 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