--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: This is a strange book: visionary and…" description: "\"This is a strange book: visionary and dark. It stutters out a kind of music: repeated phrases which accumulate errors and mutate as they go like chromo..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/211/rae-armantrout-15496_beautiful_this-is-a-strange-book-visionary-and-dar_1013452.jpg" --- # This is a strange book: visionary and dark. It stutters… ![“This is a strange book: visionary and dark. It stutters out a kind of music: repeated phrases which accumulate errors and mutate as they go like chromosomes or, as Woodward puts it better, 'visible fissile ribbons.' It's as if we were present for the moments of creation and extinction. Uncanny…” quote by Rae Armantrout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/211/rae-armantrout-15496_beautiful_this-is-a-strange-book-visionary-and-dar_1013452.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/211/rae-armantrout-15496_beautiful_this-is-a-strange-book-visionary-and-dar_1013452.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/211/rae-armantrout-15496_beautiful_this-is-a-strange-book-visionary-and-dar_1013452.jpg) > “This is a strange book: visionary and dark. It stutters out a kind of music: repeated phrases which accumulate errors and mutate as they go like chromosomes or, as Woodward puts it better, 'visible fissile ribbons.' It's as if we were present for the moments of creation and extinction. Uncanny Valley is ominous and beautiful.” [Rae Armantrout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rae-armantrout/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The poem likens chaotic creative processes to genetic mutation, producing both unsettling and beautiful outcomes. **In simple terms:** Creation can be both eerie and lovely. Key Takeaway Embrace uncertainty in artistic work. Themes creativity uncertainty beauty Mood reflective poetic Type literary inspirational When to use this quote - writing workshops - experimental art - music composition - film editing Key Concepts mutation chromosomal analogy aesthetic paradox Questions to Reflect On - What does “visible fissile ribbons” suggest to you? - How do errors contribute to artistic evolution? A Different Perspective The metaphor may over‑complicate simple artistic intuition. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Beautiful](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beautiful/) [Book](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/book/) [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Chromosomes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/chromosomes/) [Creation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creation/) [Dark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dark/) [Errors](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/errors/) [Extinction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/extinction/) [Ifs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ifs/) [Kind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/kind/) [Moments](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moments/) [Music](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/music/) [Ominous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ominous/) [Ominous Beautiful](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ominous-beautiful-2215232/) [Phrases](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/phrases/) [Ribbons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ribbons/) [Strange](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/strange/) [Strange Book](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/strange-book-2215231/) [Uncanny](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/uncanny/) [Uncanny Valley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/uncanny-valley-561100/) [Valleys](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/valleys/) [Visible](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/visible/) [Visionaries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/visionaries/) [Visionary Dark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/visionary-dark-2215233/) ## Related quotes > [When I first encountered the poems of Jon Woodward, I was stunned into the state that is my life's joy-I was in the presence…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-ruefle/when-i-first-encountered-the-poems-of-jon-woodward-i-was-stunned-into/) [Mary Ruefle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-ruefle/) > [There's something known as the Uncanny Valley where things look a little too real and you're not quite sure what you're looking at. 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Biologists use fruit flies because their large chromosomes and short life cycle make them ideal for studying hereditary changes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-mankoff/cartoons-are-like-fruit-flies-biologists-use-fruit-flies-because/) [Robert Mankoff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-mankoff/) > [Sometimes no matter how well you prepare, no matter how conservative your decision making, no matter how few Y chromosomes are along on your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pam-houston/sometimes-no-matter-how-well-you-prepare-no-matter-how-conservative/) [Pam Houston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pam-houston/) > [“You'd better leave your chromosomes at the door.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-irving/you-d-better-leave-your-chromosomes-at-the-door/) [John Irving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-irving/) > [“Except for the rare cases of plastid inheritance, the inheritance of all known cofactors can be sufficiently accounted for by the presence of genes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hunt-morgan/except-for-the-rare-cases-of-plastid-inheritance-the-inheritance-of/) [Thomas Hunt Morgan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hunt-morgan/) > [The test for whether or not you can hold a job should not be the arrangement of your chromosomes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bella-abzug/the-test-for-whether-or-not-you-can-hold-a-job-should-not-be-the/) [Bella Abzug](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bella-abzug/) ## More by Rae Armantrout > [I am attracted to looking at the different things language can mean even in one sometimes quite ordinary utterance. 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Maybe the poetry audience member…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rae-armantrout/people-probably-long-for-something-genuinely-personal-in-a-society/) [Rae Armantrout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rae-armantrout/) > [“The jacaranda, for instance, is beautiful but not serious.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rae-armantrout/the-jacaranda-for-instance-is-beautiful-but-not-serious/) [Rae Armantrout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rae-armantrout/) > [Like most of my poems, 'Lie' has several sources: I read a very troubling book called The Sixth Extinction. I took note of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rae-armantrout/like-most-of-my-poems-lie-has-several-sources-i-read-a-very-troubling/) [Rae Armantrout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rae-armantrout/) > [Poets tend to form loose groups - the "Romantics" or the "Imagists". And sometimes they write manifestoes in the name of these groups. This…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rae-armantrout/poets-tend-to-form-loose-groups-the-romantics-or-the-imagists-and/) [Rae Armantrout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rae-armantrout/) > [“Evening succeeds evening.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rae-armantrout/evening-succeeds-evening/) [Rae Armantrout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rae-armantrout/) > [The ghosts swarm. They speak as one person. Each has left something undone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rae-armantrout/the-ghosts-swarm-they-speak-as-one-person-each-has-left-something/) [Rae Armantrout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rae-armantrout/) > [Metaphor is ritual sacrifice. It kills the look-alike. No, metaphor is homeopathy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rae-armantrout/metaphor-is-ritual-sacrifice-it-kills-the-look-alike-no-metaphor-is/) [Rae Armantrout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rae-armantrout/) > [Carried by light, images remain while sensation is so evanescent as to be always beyond belief.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rae-armantrout/carried-by-light-images-remain-while-sensation-is-so-evanescent-as-to/) [Rae Armantrout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rae-armantrout/) > [“The feeling of emptiness is a pre-existing condition. Jargon forces intimacy.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rae-armantrout/the-feeling-of-emptiness-is-a-pre-existing-condition-jargon-forces/) [Rae Armantrout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rae-armantrout/) > [Like all my poems, 'Negotiations' has several sources. It deals with aging lovers and the often silent deals they make. Thinking about bargains made…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rae-armantrout/like-all-my-poems-negotiations-has-several-sources-it-deals-with/) [Rae Armantrout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rae-armantrout/) > [clarity need not be equivalent to / readability. How readable is the world?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rae-armantrout/clarity-need-not-be-equivalent-to-readability-how-readable-is-the/) [Rae Armantrout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rae-armantrout/) [Explore all 43 Rae Armantrout quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rae-armantrout/) ## More Beautiful quotes > [I received a beautiful welcome to the world of music. 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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/) > [You will never know just how beautiful you are to me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/you-will-never-know-just-how-beautiful-you-are-to-me/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [You felt a deep sorrow, the kind of melancholy you feel when you're in a beautiful place and the sun is going down](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thrity-umrigar/you-felt-a-deep-sorrow-the-kind-of-melancholy-you-feel-when-you-re-in/) [Thrity Umrigar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thrity-umrigar/) > [ Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit. 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