--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: In Judith Barrington's striking…" description: "\"In Judith Barrington's striking collection, Horses and the Human Soul, human emotions come ushered and accompanied by animal companions, especially the..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/21b/mark-doty-11557_affection_in-judith-barrington-s-striking-collecti_302221.jpg" --- # In Judith Barrington's striking collection, Horses and the… ![“In Judith Barrington's striking collection, Horses and the Human Soul, human emotions come ushered and accompanied by animal companions, especially the horses this speaker loves. Here they are witnesses, companions to the spirit, and as vulnerably mortal as human beings. Socially and politically…” quote by Mark Doty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/21b/mark-doty-11557_affection_in-judith-barrington-s-striking-collecti_302221.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/21b/mark-doty-11557_affection_in-judith-barrington-s-striking-collecti_302221.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/21b/mark-doty-11557_affection_in-judith-barrington-s-striking-collecti_302221.jpg) > “In Judith Barrington's striking collection, Horses and the Human Soul, human emotions come ushered and accompanied by animal companions, especially the horses this speaker loves. Here they are witnesses, companions to the spirit, and as vulnerably mortal as human beings. Socially and politically alert, lamenting and celebrating, Barrington's passionate poems inscribe the broad range of her affections.” [Mark Doty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-doty/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Poems explore how horses mirror human emotions, serving as companions that reflect and amplify our inner lives. **In simple terms:** Horses act as emotional mirrors. Key Takeaway Recognize shared vulnerability with animals. Themes connection empathy nature spirituality artistic expression Mood reflective gentle Type poetic philosophical When to use this quote - rural life - therapy sessions - creative writing - community gatherings Key Concepts symbolism anthropomorphism inter‑species empathy Questions to Reflect On - How do animals influence your emotional awareness? - What does a horse symbolize for you? A Different Perspective Animal companions may not fully capture complex human feelings. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Affection](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/affection/) [Animal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/animal/) [Animals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/animals/) [Companion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/companion/) [Emotion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/emotion/) [Horse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/horse/) [Human beings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-beings/) [Human emotions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-emotions/) [Human soul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-soul/) [Humans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humans/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Mortals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mortals/) [Passionate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/passionate/) [Soul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/soul/) [Spirit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spirit/) ## Related quotes > [Sometimes," Halt continued, "we tend to expect a little too much of Ranger horses. After all, they are only human.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-flanagan/sometimes-halt-continued-we-tend-to-expect-a-little-too-much-of/) [John Flanagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-flanagan/) > [I still prefer horses to human beings.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-still-prefer-horses-to-human-beings/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“He loved her, he loved her, and until he'd loved her she had never minded being alone, she'd liked to much to be alone.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/truman-capote/he-loved-her-he-loved-her-and-until-he-d-loved-her-she-had-never-2/) [Truman Capote](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/truman-capote/) > [In Advance of All Parting is a tough, unsentimental examination of marital grief. Musically elegant and inventive, understated and passionate, the poems give us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chase-twichell/in-advance-of-all-parting-is-a-tough-unsentimental-examination-of/) [Chase Twichell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chase-twichell/) > [I'm not an autobiographical writer, but I am a writer who deals with human emotion on all levels.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-m-not-an-autobiographical-writer-but-i-am-a-writer-who-deals-with/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Effective communication is shaped by human nature and is subject to the complexities, inconsistencies, and particularities which characterize human behavior. Since communication is intended…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helio-fred-garcia/effective-communication-is-shaped-by-human-nature-and-is-subject-to/) [Helio Fred Garcia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helio-fred-garcia/) > [They came to her, naturally, since she was a woman, all day long with this and that; one wanting this, another that; the children…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/they-came-to-her-naturally-since-she-was-a-woman-all-day-long-with/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [“To rich people it must seem that the ordinary little people..experience human emotions with less intensity and greater indifference...The fact that we might be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/muriel-barbery/to-rich-people-it-must-seem-that-the-ordinary-little-people/) [Muriel Barbery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/muriel-barbery/) > [The truth is that family values, as used by the American Family Association, Dan Quayle, and the southern Baptists, has nothing to do with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/morris-sullivan/the-truth-is-that-family-values-as-used-by-the-american-family/) Morris Sullivan > [Empathy is the most radical of human emotions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gloria-steinem/empathy-is-the-most-radical-of-human-emotions/) [Gloria Steinem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gloria-steinem/) > [I became an actress and studied human emotions so that I could give the gift of feelings to my son. This is what my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tisha-campbell-martin/i-became-an-actress-and-studied-human-emotions-so-that-i-could-give/) [Tisha Campbell-Martin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tisha-campbell-martin/) > [The strongest human emotion is fear. It's the essence of any good thriller that, for a little while, you believe in the boogeyman.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-carpenter/the-strongest-human-emotion-is-fear-it-s-the-essence-of-any-good/) [John Carpenter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-carpenter/) > [“Why? Must one have seen the world? In this village, in every house, in every shack, you will find the entire range of human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sendker-jan-philipp/why-must-one-have-seen-the-world-in-this-village-in-every-house-in/) Sendker, Jan-Philipp > [“Our study of psychoneurotic disturbances points to a more comprehensive explanation, which includes that of Westermarck. When a wife loses her husband, or a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sigmund-freud/our-study-of-psychoneurotic-disturbances-points-to-a-more/) [Sigmund Freud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sigmund-freud/) > [I guess I kinda lost control, because in the middle of the play I ran up and lit the evil puppet villain on fire.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-guess-i-kinda-lost-control-because-in-the-middle-of-the-play-i-ran/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) ## More by Mark Doty > [One ambition of poetry, certainly, is to create a reverberant silence in its wake, one that means more or differently than the silence that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-doty/one-ambition-of-poetry-certainly-is-to-create-a-reverberant-silence/) [Mark Doty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-doty/) > [... the attempt to render visual intricacy makes words feel unwieldy, like sacks of meaning that must be lugged into place, dragged here and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-doty/the-attempt-to-render-visual-intricacy-makes-words-feel-unwieldy-like/) [Mark Doty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-doty/) > [“And now, a heap of roses beside the sea, white rugosa beside the foaming hem of shore: brave, waxen candles… And we talk as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-doty/and-now-a-heap-of-roses-beside-the-sea-white-rugosa-beside-the/) [Mark Doty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-doty/) > [“Doesn’t rain make a memory more intimate?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-doty/doesn-t-rain-make-a-memory-more-intimate/) [Mark Doty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-doty/) > [“I used to walk out, at night, to the breakwater which divides the end of the harbor form the broad moor of the salt…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-doty/i-used-to-walk-out-at-night-to-the-breakwater-which-divides-the-end/) [Mark Doty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-doty/) > [“And, I think, this greening does thaw at the edges, at least, of my own cold season. Joy sneaks in: listening to music, riding…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-doty/and-i-think-this-greening-does-thaw-at-the-edges-at-least-of-my-own/) [Mark Doty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-doty/) > [Poetry is ... the physical enactment of a process of knowing by means of language.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-doty/poetry-is-the-physical-enactment-of-a-process-of-knowing-by-means-of/) [Mark Doty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-doty/) > [We love disasters that have nothing to do with us](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-doty/we-love-disasters-that-have-nothing-to-do-with-us/) [Mark Doty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-doty/) > [“Does the poem reside in experience or in self-consciousness about experience?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-doty/does-the-poem-reside-in-experience-or-in-self-consciousness-about/) [Mark Doty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-doty/) > ['Everything beautiful occurs when the body / is suspended,' Helena Mesa quotes a performance artist who hangs his own pierced body in the air.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-doty/everything-beautiful-occurs-when-the-body-is-suspended-helena-mesa/) [Mark Doty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-doty/) > [Intimacy, says the phenomenologist Gaston Bachelard, is the highest value. I resist this statement at first. What about artistic achievement, or moral courage, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-doty/intimacy-says-the-phenomenologist-gaston-bachelard-is-the-highest/) [Mark Doty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-doty/) > [It's unsettling, to lose the safety of the familiar, even when what's disrupted is an ordinary routine. When I began this poem, I was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-doty/it-s-unsettling-to-lose-the-safety-of-the-familiar-even-when-what-s/) [Mark Doty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-doty/) > [Desire can make anything into a god.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-doty/desire-can-make-anything-into-a-god/) [Mark Doty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-doty/) > [“In the museums we used to visit on family vacations when I was a kid, I used to love those rooms which displayed collections…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-doty/in-the-museums-we-used-to-visit-on-family-vacations-when-i-was-a-kid/) [Mark Doty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-doty/) > [I've been moving a little to the music while I worked ...and then I realize I am actually dancing. It feels wonderful, though I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-doty/i-ve-been-moving-a-little-to-the-music-while-i-worked-and-then-i/) [Mark Doty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-doty/) [Explore all 59 Mark Doty quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-doty/) ## More Affection quotes > [My team and I have reunited two elements that coexist with diffiulty: respect and affection, because when they love you they don't respect you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shakira/my-team-and-i-have-reunited-two-elements-that-coexist-with-diffiulty/) [Shakira](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shakira/) > [Needs cause motivation. Deep-rooted desires for esteem, affection, belonging, achievement, self-actualization, power, and control motivate us to push for what we want and need…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorii-myers/needs-cause-motivation-deep-rooted-desires-for-esteem-affection/) [Lorii Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorii-myers/) > [“It is to build a house with affection, even as if your beloved were to dwell in that house.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kahlil-gibran/it-is-to-build-a-house-with-affection-even-as-if-your-beloved-were-to/) [Kahlil Gibran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kahlil-gibran/) > [In this choice of inheritance we have given to our frame of polity the image of a relation in blood; binding up the constitution…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/in-this-choice-of-inheritance-we-have-given-to-our-frame-of-polity/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) > [I, measuring his affections by my own, Which then most sought where most might not be found, Being one too many by my weary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/i-measuring-his-affections-by-my-own-which-then-most-sought-where/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [There are a number of qualities which are important for mental peace, but from the little experience I have, I believe that one of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dalai-lama/there-are-a-number-of-qualities-which-are-important-for-mental-peace/) [Dalai Lama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dalai-lama/) > [A lost love. Deny it who will, ridicule it, treat it as mere imagination and sentiment, the thing is and will be; and women…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dinah-maria-murlock-craik/a-lost-love-deny-it-who-will-ridicule-it-treat-it-as-mere-imagination/) [Dinah Maria Murlock Craik](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dinah-maria-murlock-craik/) > [Affection! Affection is false.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-i/affection-affection-is-false/) [Elizabeth I](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-i/) > [We are a spectacular, splendid manifestation of life. We have language. . . . We have affection. We have genes for usefulness, and usefulness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/we-are-a-spectacular-splendid-manifestation-of-life-we-have-language/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [Listen, I have a great affection and respect for Joe Biden. I think he's been a great vice president. He's taken on a lot…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-axelrod/listen-i-have-a-great-affection-and-respect-for-joe-biden-i-think-he/) [David Axelrod](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-axelrod/) > [The still affection of the heart Became an outward breathing type, That into stillness past again, And left a want unknown before; Although the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-lord-tennyson/the-still-affection-of-the-heart-became-an-outward-breathing-type/) [Alfred Lord Tennyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-lord-tennyson/) > [I am persuaded that there is no affection of the human heart more exquisitely pure, than that which is felt by a grateful son…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-more/i-am-persuaded-that-there-is-no-affection-of-the-human-heart-more/) [Hannah More](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-more/) > [If you live in a material universe where acquiring things is very important to you, then family is an absolute deterrent to maintaining that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-taylor-gatto/if-you-live-in-a-material-universe-where-acquiring-things-is-very/) [John Taylor Gatto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-taylor-gatto/) > [Our sweetest experiences of affection are meant to be suggestions of that realm which is the home of the heart.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-ward-beecher/our-sweetest-experiences-of-affection-are-meant-to-be-suggestions-of/) [Henry Ward Beecher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-ward-beecher/) > [“Georgia O’Keeffe moved to rural New Mexico, from which she would sign her letters to the people she loved, “from the faraway nearby.” It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/georgia-o-keeffe-moved-to-rural-new-mexico-from-which-she-would-sign/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) [Browse all 2,465 Affection quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/affection/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "In Judith Barrington's striking collection, Horses and the Human Soul, human emotions come ushered and accompanied by animal companions, especially the horses this speaker loves. 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