--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It really does look like musical sheets…" description: "\"“It really does look like musical sheets, frayed at the edges, constantly played, coming to you in tidal scores, in bars of canals with innumerable obb..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/274/joseph-brodsky-1225_gondolas_it-really-does-look-like-musical-sheets_2380861.png" --- # It really does look like musical sheets, frayed at the… ![“It really does look like musical sheets, frayed at the edges, constantly played, coming to you in tidal scores, in bars of canals with innumerable obbligati of bridges, mullioned windows, or curved crownings of Coducci cathedrals, not to mention the violin necks of gondolas. In fact, the whole…” quote by Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/274/joseph-brodsky-1225_gondolas_it-really-does-look-like-musical-sheets_2380861.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/274/joseph-brodsky-1225_gondolas_it-really-does-look-like-musical-sheets_2380861.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/274/joseph-brodsky-1225_gondolas_it-really-does-look-like-musical-sheets_2380861.png) > ““It really does look like musical sheets, frayed at the edges, constantly played, coming to you in tidal scores, in bars of canals with innumerable obbligati of bridges, mullioned windows, or curved crownings of Coducci cathedrals, not to mention the violin necks of gondolas. In fact, the whole city, especially at night, resembles a gigantic orchestra, with dimly lit music stands of palazzi, with a restless chorus of waves, with the falsetto of a star in the winter sky.”” [Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. He likens a nocturnal city to a vast, complex orchestra of sounds and structures **In simple terms:** The city at night feels like music made of architecture and water Key Takeaway Listen to the city’s nocturnal symphony Themes poetry city night Mood evocative melancholic Type literary descriptive When to use this quote - urban exploration - night walks - creative writing Key Concepts metaphor sensory imagery Questions to Reflect On - What emotions does the city’s nightscape evoke? - How does music shape our perception of place? A Different Perspective The metaphor may romanticize urban challenges, overlooking hardships ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Gigantic Orchestra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gigantic-orchestra-5896839/) [Gondolas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gondolas/) [Like Musical](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/like-musical-397986/) [Music](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/music/) [Night Resembles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/night-resembles-5896838/) [Orchestra Dimly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/orchestra-dimly-5896840/) ## Related quotes > [We wanted a musical number that would capture the exhilaration of being out on a boat as they were and sailing with the stars…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-musker/we-wanted-a-musical-number-that-would-capture-the-exhilaration-of/) [John Musker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-musker/) > [May you eat an unfamiliar dessert in a strange land at least once every three years. May you wake up... and start dancing while…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rob-brezsny/may-you-eat-an-unfamiliar-dessert-in-a-strange-land-at-least-once/) [Rob Brezsny](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rob-brezsny/) > [ Does anyone know where these gondolas of Paris come from? \[Fr., Ne sait on pas ou viennent ces gondoles Parisiennes?\] ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/honor-de-balzac/does-anyone-know-where-these-gondolas-of-paris-come-from-fr-ne-sait/) [Honore de Balzac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/honor-de-balzac/) > [Afloat.We move: Delicious! Ah, What else is like the gondola?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-hugh-clough/afloat-we-move-delicious-ah-what-else-is-like-the-gondola/) [Arthur Hugh Clough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-hugh-clough/) > [“like corks. To Langdon’s surprise, dozens of gondolas were making this same crossing. Their slender hulls—at nearly forty feet in length and almost fourteen…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-brown/like-corks-to-langdon-s-surprise-dozens-of-gondolas-were-making-this/) [Dan Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-brown/) > [As to Don Juan, confess that it is the sublime of that there sort of writing; it may be bawdy, but is it not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lord-byron/as-to-don-juan-confess-that-it-is-the-sublime-of-that-there-sort-of/) [Lord Byron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lord-byron/) > [ \[On Venice:\] A wondrous city of fairest carving, reflected in gleaming waters swirled to new patterning by every passing gondola. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-pankhurst/on-venice-a-wondrous-city-of-fairest-carving-reflected-in-gleaming/) [Sylvia Pankhurst](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-pankhurst/) > [ The gondola of London \[a hansom\]. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-disraeli/the-gondola-of-london-a-hansom/) [Benjamin Disraeli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-disraeli/) > [To go out in a gondola at night is to reconstruct in one's imagination the true Venice, the Venice of the past alive with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peggy-guggenheim/to-go-out-in-a-gondola-at-night-is-to-reconstruct-in-one-s/) [Peggy Guggenheim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peggy-guggenheim/) > [“Venice appeared to me as in a recurring dream, a place once visited and now fixed in memory like images on a photographer’s plates…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-inbinder/venice-appeared-to-me-as-in-a-recurring-dream-a-place-once-visited/) [Gary Inbinder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-inbinder/) > [By day, Venice is a city of museums and churches, packed with great art. Linger over lunch, trying to crack a crustacean with weird…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-steves/by-day-venice-is-a-city-of-museums-and-churches-packed-with-great-art/) [Rick Steves](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-steves/) > [Overall, The Population Bomb was probably too optimistic. I was writing about climate change - Anne and I actually wrote the book. We discussed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-r-ehrlich/overall-the-population-bomb-was-probably-too-optimistic-i-was-writing/) [Paul R. Ehrlich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-r-ehrlich/) > [Sailin' 'round the world in a dirty gondola Oh, to be back in the land of Coca-Cola!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-dylan/sailin-round-the-world-in-a-dirty-gondola-oh-to-be-back-in-the-land/) [Bob Dylan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-dylan/) > [Life is like a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Very popular and not as bad as some would have you believe. That is, unspeakably…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-munnery/life-is-like-a-musical-by-andrew-lloyd-webber-very-popular-and-not-as/) [Simon Munnery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-munnery/) > [“Love is like a musical score, sometimes very tuneful, creating a harmony of sounds, sometimes extremely harsh, striking a hell of false notes. (“Love…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erik-pevernagie/love-is-like-a-musical-score-sometimes-very-tuneful-creating-a/) [Erik Pevernagie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erik-pevernagie/) ## More by Joseph Brodsky > [As long as the state permits itself to interfere in the affairs of literature, literature has the right to interfere with the affairs of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/as-long-as-the-state-permits-itself-to-interfere-in-the-affairs-of/) [Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/) > [For some odd reason, the expression 'death of a poet' always sounds somewhat more concrete than 'life of a poet.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/for-some-odd-reason-the-expression-death-of-a-poet-always-sounds/) [Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/) > [A poet is a combination of an instrument and a human being in one person, with the former gradually taking over the latter. 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I'm a sucker for the language, but the good old poems I'm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/i-haven-t-shifted-language-i-m-writing-in-english-because-i-like-it-i/) [Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/) > [Perhaps the best proof of the Almighty's existence is that we never know when we are to die.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/perhaps-the-best-proof-of-the-almighty-s-existence-is-that-we-never/) [Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/) > [I grew up in the sort of cultural milieu that always regarded conversations about the political discourse as tremendously low-brow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/i-grew-up-in-the-sort-of-cultural-milieu-that-always-regarded/) [Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/) > [“What gets left of a man amounts to a part. To his spoken part. To a part of speech”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/what-gets-left-of-a-man-amounts-to-a-part-to-his-spoken-part-to-a/) [Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/) > [“secrecy is a hotbed of vanity”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/secrecy-is-a-hotbed-of-vanity/) [Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/) > [“The instinctive preference was to read rather than to act. No wonder our actual lives were more or less a shambles”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/the-instinctive-preference-was-to-read-rather-than-to-act-no-wonder/) [Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/) > [Americans have been tremendously fortunate in poetry, regarding both the quantity and quality of poetry produced. Unfortunately, it remains in schools and universities; it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/americans-have-been-tremendously-fortunate-in-poetry-regarding-both/) [Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/) > [Life—the way it really is—is a battle not between good and bad, but between bad and worse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/life-the-way-it-really-is-is-a-battle-not-between-good-and-bad-but/) [Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/) > [Poems, novels - these things belong to the nation, to the culture, and the people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/poems-novels-these-things-belong-to-the-nation-to-the-culture-and-the/) [Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/) > [“If there is any substitute for love, it is memory.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/if-there-is-any-substitute-for-love-it-is-memory/) [Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/) [Explore all 264 Joseph Brodsky quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/) ## More Gondolas quotes > [May you eat an unfamiliar dessert in a strange land at least once every three years. May you wake up... and start dancing while…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rob-brezsny/may-you-eat-an-unfamiliar-dessert-in-a-strange-land-at-least-once/) [Rob Brezsny](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rob-brezsny/) > [Overall, The Population Bomb was probably too optimistic. I was writing about climate change - Anne and I actually wrote the book. We discussed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-r-ehrlich/overall-the-population-bomb-was-probably-too-optimistic-i-was-writing/) [Paul R. Ehrlich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-r-ehrlich/) > [By day, Venice is a city of museums and churches, packed with great art. Linger over lunch, trying to crack a crustacean with weird…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-steves/by-day-venice-is-a-city-of-museums-and-churches-packed-with-great-art/) [Rick Steves](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-steves/) > [“Venice appeared to me as in a recurring dream, a place once visited and now fixed in memory like images on a photographer’s plates…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-inbinder/venice-appeared-to-me-as-in-a-recurring-dream-a-place-once-visited/) [Gary Inbinder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-inbinder/) > [To go out in a gondola at night is to reconstruct in one's imagination the true Venice, the Venice of the past alive with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peggy-guggenheim/to-go-out-in-a-gondola-at-night-is-to-reconstruct-in-one-s/) [Peggy Guggenheim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peggy-guggenheim/) > [ The gondola of London \[a hansom\]. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-disraeli/the-gondola-of-london-a-hansom/) [Benjamin Disraeli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-disraeli/) > [ \[On Venice:\] A wondrous city of fairest carving, reflected in gleaming waters swirled to new patterning by every passing gondola. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-pankhurst/on-venice-a-wondrous-city-of-fairest-carving-reflected-in-gleaming/) [Sylvia Pankhurst](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-pankhurst/) > [As to Don Juan, confess that it is the sublime of that there sort of writing; it may be bawdy, but is it not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lord-byron/as-to-don-juan-confess-that-it-is-the-sublime-of-that-there-sort-of/) [Lord Byron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lord-byron/) > [“like corks. To Langdon’s surprise, dozens of gondolas were making this same crossing. Their slender hulls—at nearly forty feet in length and almost fourteen…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-brown/like-corks-to-langdon-s-surprise-dozens-of-gondolas-were-making-this/) [Dan Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-brown/) > [Afloat.We move: Delicious! Ah, What else is like the gondola?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-hugh-clough/afloat-we-move-delicious-ah-what-else-is-like-the-gondola/) [Arthur Hugh Clough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-hugh-clough/) > [ Does anyone know where these gondolas of Paris come from? \[Fr., Ne sait on pas ou viennent ces gondoles Parisiennes?\] ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/honor-de-balzac/does-anyone-know-where-these-gondolas-of-paris-come-from-fr-ne-sait/) [Honore de Balzac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/honor-de-balzac/) > [Sailin' 'round the world in a dirty gondola Oh, to be back in the land of Coca-Cola!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-dylan/sailin-round-the-world-in-a-dirty-gondola-oh-to-be-back-in-the-land/) [Bob Dylan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-dylan/) [Browse all 13 Gondolas quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gondolas/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“It really does look like musical sheets, frayed at the edges, constantly played, coming to you in tidal scores, in bars of canals with innumerable obbligati of bridges, mullioned windows, or curved crownings of Coducci cathedrals, not to mention the violin necks of gondolas. 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