--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: This is what history is: all those…" description: "\"This is what history is: all those centuries of bodies, moving over these canals, twisting and blooming into life in these houses, these streets; all t..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/768/mark-doty-11557_aging_this-is-what-history-is-all-those-centur_808491.jpg" --- # This is what history is: all those centuries of bodies… ![“This is what history is: all those centuries of bodies, moving over these canals, twisting and blooming into life in these houses, these streets; all that flesh hungering, coming together, separating, continuing, accumulating, relinquishing, aging and breaking down. Bodies as tulips bent to the…” quote by Mark Doty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/768/mark-doty-11557_aging_this-is-what-history-is-all-those-centur_808491.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/768/mark-doty-11557_aging_this-is-what-history-is-all-those-centur_808491.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/768/mark-doty-11557_aging_this-is-what-history-is-all-those-centur_808491.jpg) > “This is what history is: all those centuries of bodies, moving over these canals, twisting and blooming into life in these houses, these streets; all that flesh hungering, coming together, separating, continuing, accumulating, relinquishing, aging and breaking down. Bodies as tulips bent to the demands of light, colored into blossom, spent.” [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. The quote portrays history as a living, breathing collage of human bodies and experiences that constantly transform, converge, and dissolve over time. **In simple terms:** History is a flow of human lives changing and ending. Key Takeaway Observe how each generation shapes and is shaped by the past. Themes history humanity transformation impermanence Mood reflective melancholic Type poetic philosophical When to use this quote - urban development - family lineage - cultural festivals - personal aging Key Concepts existentialism collective memory biological metaphor Questions to Reflect On - How do personal stories survive within massive historical currents? - What does the metaphor of bodies as tulips suggest about vulnerability? A Different Perspective It may overlook the agency of individuals amid broad forces. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Aging](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/aging/) [Bent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bent/) [Blooming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/blooming/) [Bodies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bodies/) [Bodies Moving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bodies-moving-1326845/) [Bodies Tulips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bodies-tulips-6165075/) [Body](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/body/) [Breaking down](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/breaking-down/) [Canals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/canals/) [Centuries Bodies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/centuries-bodies-6165074/) [Century](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/century/) [Coming together](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/coming-together/) [Continuing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/continuing/) [Demand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/demand/) [Flesh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flesh/) [History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) [History Centuries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history-centuries-4167605/) [House](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/house/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Light](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/light/) [Moving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moving/) [Relinquishing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/relinquishing/) [Streets](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/streets/) [Together](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/together/) ## Related quotes > [Often the presence of mind and energy of a person remote from the spotlight decide the course of history for centuries to come.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stefan-zweig/often-the-presence-of-mind-and-energy-of-a-person-remote-from-the/) [Stefan Zweig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stefan-zweig/) > [“we need to stop asking the history of centuries past to vindicate our actions today. History is not a manifesto for action, a list…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sidin-vadukut/we-need-to-stop-asking-the-history-of-centuries-past-to-vindicate-our/) [Sidin Vadukut](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sidin-vadukut/) > [Now what is history? It is the centuries of systematic explorations of the riddle of death, with a view to overcoming death. That’s why…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-krakauer/now-what-is-history-it-is-the-centuries-of-systematic-explorations-of-2/) [Jon Krakauer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jon-krakauer/) > [While American football is very structured and linear and static, where everyone lines up and there's a burst and it happens, soccer is like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabriel-luna/while-american-football-is-very-structured-and-linear-and-static/) [Gabriel Luna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabriel-luna/) > [Our bodies are made to move, and moving down the trail is one of the oldest, natural ways people have used their bodies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennifer-pharr-davis/our-bodies-are-made-to-move-and-moving-down-the-trail-is-one-of-the/) [Jennifer Pharr Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jennifer-pharr-davis/) > [The NFL today has bigger, stronger, bodies than ever, moving faster than ever, hitting a stationary object harder than ever before - so the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leigh-steinberg/the-nfl-today-has-bigger-stronger-bodies-than-ever-moving-faster-than/) [Leigh Steinberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leigh-steinberg/) > [“While we live our bodies are moving particles of the earth, joined inextricably both to the soil and to the bodies of other living…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/while-we-live-our-bodies-are-moving-particles-of-the-earth-joined/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) > [We are dominated on this planet by a fear-based rather than a love-based thought system. Enlightenment involves relinquishing the thought system based on fear…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-williamson/we-are-dominated-on-this-planet-by-a-fear-based-rather-than-a-love/) [Marianne Williamson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-williamson/) > [the voluntary relinquishing of responsibility for our lives and our actions is one of the greatest enemies of our time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/genesis-p-orridge/the-voluntary-relinquishing-of-responsibility-for-our-lives-and-our/) [Genesis P-Orridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/genesis-p-orridge/) > [The absurd man will not commit suicide; he wants to live, without relinquishing any of his certainty, without a future, without hope, without illusions…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-absurd-man-will-not-commit-suicide-he-wants-to-live-without/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Forgiveness feels most dramatic when some ancient pattern of self-punishment collapses in a torrent of tears. But it is just as effective when practiced…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/d-patrick-miller/forgiveness-feels-most-dramatic-when-some-ancient-pattern-of-self/) [D. Patrick Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/d-patrick-miller/) > [“Relinquishing resentment is redemption”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/priyanka-deshmukh/relinquishing-resentment-is-redemption/) [Priyanka Deshmukh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/priyanka-deshmukh/) > [...I swore I would battle not only for myself but for freedom and opportunity for everything living that wore chains, especially sex chains. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rheta-childe-dorr/i-swore-i-would-battle-not-only-for-myself-but-for-freedom-and/) [Rheta Childe Dorr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rheta-childe-dorr/) > [“Our strength, in other words, has rested in our determination to reject simplistic absolutes and to redefine and revitalize a productive middle ground, relinquishing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hillary-rodham-clinton/our-strength-in-other-words-has-rested-in-our-determination-to-reject/) [Hillary Rodham Clinton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hillary-rodham-clinton/) > [Next to the assumption of power was the responsibility of relinquishing it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-disraeli/next-to-the-assumption-of-power-was-the-responsibility-of/) [Benjamin Disraeli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-disraeli/) ## 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/) > [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-doty/in-judith-barrington-s-striking-collection-horses-and-the-human-soul/) [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/) [Explore all 59 Mark Doty quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-doty/) ## More Aging quotes > [While we've youth in our hearts, we can never grow old.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-wendell-holmes-jr/while-we-ve-youth-in-our-hearts-we-can-never-grow-old/) [Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-wendell-holmes-jr/) > [In the past 40 years, the United States lost more than a million farmers and ranchers. Many of our farmers are aging. Today, only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-vilsack/in-the-past-40-years-the-united-states-lost-more-than-a-million/) [Tom Vilsack](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-vilsack/) > [We'll never be as young as we are tonight.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-palahniuk/we-ll-never-be-as-young-as-we-are-tonight/) [Chuck Palahniuk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-palahniuk/) > [“Prayer of an Anonymous Abbess: Lord, thou knowest better than myself that I am growing older and will soon be old. Keep me from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/prayer-of-an-anonymous-abbess-lord-thou-knowest-better-than-myself/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The more I produce, the less I am certain. On the road along which the artist walks, night falls ever more densely. Finally, he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-camus/the-more-i-produce-the-less-i-am-certain-on-the-road-along-which-the/) [Albert Camus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-camus/) > [So often do you see collegians enter life with high resolve and lofty purpose and then watch them shrink and shrink to sordid, selfish,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-e-b-du-bois/so-often-do-you-see-collegians-enter-life-with-high-resolve-and-lofty/) [W. E. B. Du Bois](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-e-b-du-bois/) > [Aging is like enlightenment at gunpoint. Before I had cancer, I lived my life for my art. After I had cancer, I lived my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-halprin/aging-is-like-enlightenment-at-gunpoint-before-i-had-cancer-i-lived/) [Anna Halprin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-halprin/) > [All the dangers in our world are like a blessed wake up call. They tell us to live life NOW... not tomorrow, not when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-jeffers/all-the-dangers-in-our-world-are-like-a-blessed-wake-up-call-they/) [Susan Jeffers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-jeffers/) > [“You could see the signs of female aging as diseased, especially if you had a vested interest in making women too see them your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naomi-wolf/you-could-see-the-signs-of-female-aging-as-diseased-especially-if-you/) [Naomi Wolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naomi-wolf/) > [“It takes maturity to be able to laugh like a child again.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/moffat-machingura/it-takes-maturity-to-be-able-to-laugh-like-a-child-again/) [Moffat Machingura](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/moffat-machingura/) > [Seek ye counsel of the aged for their eyes have looked on the faces of the years and their ears have hardened to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/khalil-gibran/seek-ye-counsel-of-the-aged-for-their-eyes-have-looked-on-the-faces/) [Khalil Gibran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/khalil-gibran/) > [Growing old-it's not nice, but it's interesting.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/august-strindberg/growing-old-it-s-not-nice-but-it-s-interesting/) [August Strindberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/august-strindberg/) > [Anything is possible in the life of a man if he lives long enough. Even maturity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howell-raines/anything-is-possible-in-the-life-of-a-man-if-he-lives-long-enough/) [Howell Raines](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howell-raines/) > [I just want to be Patty McCormack. I want to spend every year aging the way she has.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-varney/i-just-want-to-be-patty-mccormack-i-want-to-spend-every-year-aging/) [Janet Varney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-varney/) > [Maturity is reached the day we don't need to be lied to about anything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-yerby/maturity-is-reached-the-day-we-don-t-need-to-be-lied-to-about-anything/) [Frank Yerby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-yerby/) [Browse all 2,792 Aging quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/aging/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "This is what history is: all those centuries of bodies, moving over these canals, twisting and blooming into life in these houses, these streets; all that flesh hungering, coming together, separating, continuing, accumulating, relinquishing, aging and breaking down. 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