--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The broken pink pillars, in the…" description: "\"“The broken pink pillars, in the half-light, might have been waiting to fall down on him: the pool, covered with green scum, its steps torn away and ha..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/391/malcolm-lowry-8442_crumbling_the-broken-pink-pillars-in-the-half-ligh_631576.jpg" --- # The broken pink pillars, in the half-light, might have… ![“The broken pink pillars, in the half-light, might have been waiting to fall down on him: the pool, covered with green scum, its steps torn away and hanging by one rotting clamp, to close over his head. The shattered evil-smelling chapel, overgrown with weeds, the crumbling walls, splashed with…” quote by Malcolm Lowry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/391/malcolm-lowry-8442_crumbling_the-broken-pink-pillars-in-the-half-ligh_631576.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/391/malcolm-lowry-8442_crumbling_the-broken-pink-pillars-in-the-half-ligh_631576.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/391/malcolm-lowry-8442_crumbling_the-broken-pink-pillars-in-the-half-ligh_631576.jpg) > ““The broken pink pillars, in the half-light, might have been waiting to fall down on him: the pool, covered with green scum, its steps torn away and hanging by one rotting clamp, to close over his head. The shattered evil-smelling chapel, overgrown with weeds, the crumbling walls, splashed with urine, on which scorpions lurked - wrecked entablature, sad archivolt, slippery stones covered with excreta - this place, where love had once brooded, seemed part of a nightmare.”” [Malcolm Lowry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-lowry/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A decaying, grotesque setting mirrors inner turmoil, suggesting that love and ruin coexist in a nightmarish landscape. **In simple terms:** A ruined place reflects inner chaos. Key Takeaway Recognize how environment shapes inner state. Themes decay love nightmare despair environment Mood somber intense Type literary descriptive When to use this quote - creative writing - artistic analysis - mental health therapy Key Concepts symbolism psychological decay Questions to Reflect On - How does setting influence character emotion? - Can darkness reveal hidden beauty? A Different Perspective The vivid horror may alienate readers seeking hope. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Nightmare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nightmare/) [Ruins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ruins/) ## Related quotes > [How absolute and omnipotent is the silence of night! And yet the stillness seems almost audible! 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I would like to see the dollar strong…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-malpass/i-don-t-want-to-see-the-dollar-strong-because-the-rest-of-the-world/) [David Malpass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-malpass/) > [While our world is shaking and crumbling, we need to realize that one thing will never change, and that is God. He is the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-graham/while-our-world-is-shaking-and-crumbling-we-need-to-realize-that-one/) [Billy Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-graham/) > [With chemical film, it was possible to alter photographs, but you had to be an expert. That's not true any more. The LA Times…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hockney/with-chemical-film-it-was-possible-to-alter-photographs-but-you-had/) [David Hockney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-hockney/) > [It was voters in the Rust Belt that cared about their roads being rebuilt, their highways, their bridges. They felt like the world was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brad-parscale/it-was-voters-in-the-rust-belt-that-cared-about-their-roads-being/) [Brad Parscale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brad-parscale/) > [“...Something I had seen as slid–not perfect, but solid–was suddenly crumbling. I felt like I was falling to pieces right along with it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-dessen/something-i-had-seen-as-slid-not-perfect-but-solid-was-suddenly/) [Sarah Dessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-dessen/) > [“It is so simple and easy to hate and so grueling and hard to love, when the emotional “love forever”- revelation has become a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erik-pevernagie/it-is-so-simple-and-easy-to-hate-and-so-grueling-and-hard-to-love/) [Erik Pevernagie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erik-pevernagie/) > [“immediately i felt my body crumbling, shaking so fast that the very atoms of my being seemed to dissolve, and then i was dissolving…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kailin-gow/immediately-i-felt-my-body-crumbling-shaking-so-fast-that-the-very/) [Kailin Gow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kailin-gow/) > [Yet if anyone cares to read over the now crumbling minutes giving an account of the meetings at which the Italian Fasci di Combattimento…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benito-mussolini/yet-if-anyone-cares-to-read-over-the-now-crumbling-minutes-giving-an/) [Benito Mussolini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benito-mussolini/) > ['Untitled' is a time machine that can transport you to 1992, an edgy moment when the art world was crumbling, money was scarce, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-saltz/untitled-is-a-time-machine-that-can-transport-you-to-1992-an-edgy/) [Jerry Saltz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-saltz/) > [We don't have time to waste. Our communities are crumbling; our children are under siege. Failing schools and a for-profit prison-industrial complex are sucking…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-l-taylor/we-don-t-have-time-to-waste-our-communities-are-crumbling-our/) [Susan L. Taylor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-l-taylor/) > [Eternity! How know we but we stand On the precipitous and crumbling verge Of Time e'en now, Eternity below?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-coles/eternity-how-know-we-but-we-stand-on-the-precipitous-and-crumbling/) [Abraham Coles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-coles/) > [There is no sweeter sound than the crumbling of one's fellow man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/groucho-marx/there-is-no-sweeter-sound-than-the-crumbling-of-one-s-fellow-man/) [Groucho Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/groucho-marx/) ## More by Malcolm Lowry > [“Night: and once again, the nightly grapple with death, the room shaking with daemonic orchestras, the snatches of fearful sleep, the voices outside the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-lowry/night-and-once-again-the-nightly-grapple-with-death-the-room-shaking/) [Malcolm Lowry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-lowry/) > [War is being declared to-morrow here so perhaps you can understand that I have been working under difficulties, but difficulties negligible compared with what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-lowry/war-is-being-declared-to-morrow-here-so-perhaps-you-can-understand/) [Malcolm Lowry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-lowry/) > [“He was safe here; this was the place he loved - sanctuary, the paradise of his despair.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-lowry/he-was-safe-here-this-was-the-place-he-loved-sanctuary-the-paradise/) [Malcolm Lowry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-lowry/) > [What I have absolutely no sympathy with is the legislator, the man who seeks, for his own profit, to exploit the weaknesses of those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-lowry/what-i-have-absolutely-no-sympathy-with-is-the-legislator-the-man-who/) [Malcolm Lowry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-lowry/) > [“The will of man is unconquerable. Even God cannot conquer it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-lowry/the-will-of-man-is-unconquerable-even-god-cannot-conquer-it/) [Malcolm Lowry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-lowry/) > [“and as they stood in silence before her, prayed again. "Nothing is altered and in spite of God's mercy I am still alone. Though…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-lowry/and-as-they-stood-in-silence-before-her-prayed-again-nothing-is/) [Malcolm Lowry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-lowry/) > [“Far above him a few white clouds were racing windily after a pale gibbous moon. Drink all morning, they said to him, drink all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-lowry/far-above-him-a-few-white-clouds-were-racing-windily-after-a-pale/) [Malcolm Lowry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-lowry/) > [Adiós," she added in Spanish, "I have no house only a shadow. 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Oh come to me again as once in May.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-lowry/my-lover-oh-come-to-me-again-as-once-in-may/) [Malcolm Lowry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-lowry/) > [“I have no house only a shadow. But whenever you are in need of a shadow, my shadow is yours.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-lowry/i-have-no-house-only-a-shadow-but-whenever-you-are-in-need-of-a/) [Malcolm Lowry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-lowry/) > [“Indeed, on the face of it, this man of abnormal strength and constitution and obscure ambition, whom Hugh would never know, could never deliver…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-lowry/indeed-on-the-face-of-it-this-man-of-abnormal-strength-and/) [Malcolm Lowry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-lowry/) > [“Under the Volcano” embraces everything from Dante to Freud to the cabala. Here it shambles like Cervantes, there it rages like Ahab, and every…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-lowry/under-the-volcano-embraces-everything-from-dante-to-freud-to-the/) [Malcolm Lowry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-lowry/) > [War is being declared tomorrow here so perhaps you can understand that I have been working under difficulties, but difficulties negligible compared with what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-lowry/war-is-being-declared-tomorrow-here-so-perhaps-you-can-understand/) [Malcolm Lowry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-lowry/) [Explore all 78 Malcolm Lowry quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-lowry/) ## More Crumbling quotes > [There is no sweeter sound than the crumbling of one's fellow man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/groucho-marx/there-is-no-sweeter-sound-than-the-crumbling-of-one-s-fellow-man/) [Groucho Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/groucho-marx/) > [Eternity! 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I felt like I was falling to pieces right along with it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-dessen/something-i-had-seen-as-slid-not-perfect-but-solid-was-suddenly/) [Sarah Dessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-dessen/) > [It was voters in the Rust Belt that cared about their roads being rebuilt, their highways, their bridges. They felt like the world was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brad-parscale/it-was-voters-in-the-rust-belt-that-cared-about-their-roads-being/) [Brad Parscale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brad-parscale/) > [With chemical film, it was possible to alter photographs, but you had to be an expert. That's not true any more. The LA Times…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hockney/with-chemical-film-it-was-possible-to-alter-photographs-but-you-had/) [David Hockney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-hockney/) > [While our world is shaking and crumbling, we need to realize that one thing will never change, and that is God. 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Each good-news picture, no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sally-mann/sometimes-when-i-get-a-good-picture-it-feels-like-i-have-taken/) [Sally Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sally-mann/) Browse all 189 Crumbling quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The broken pink pillars, in the half-light, might have been waiting to fall down on him: the pool, covered with green scum, its steps torn away and hanging by one rotting clamp, to close over his head. 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