--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The awful longing in his eyes, are…" description: "\"“The awful longing in his eyes, are changed forever On their rocky waste of island by their imagination Of his imagination of the song they didn't sing..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4a5/robert-hass-3548_longing_the-awful-longing-in-his-eyes-are-change_947707.png" --- # The awful longing in his eyes, are changed forever On… ![“The awful longing in his eyes, are changed forever On their rocky waste of island by their imagination Of his imagination of the song they didn't sing.” quote by Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4a5/robert-hass-3548_longing_the-awful-longing-in-his-eyes-are-change_947707.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4a5/robert-hass-3548_longing_the-awful-longing-in-his-eyes-are-change_947707.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4a5/robert-hass-3548_longing_the-awful-longing-in-his-eyes-are-change_947707.png) > ““The awful longing in his eyes, are changed forever On their rocky waste of island by their imagination Of his imagination of the song they didn't sing.”” [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) ## 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 describes a transformative, imaginative longing that reshapes perception of an island’s desolation. **In simple terms:** Imagined longing reshapes view. Key Takeaway Channel longing into creative expression. Themes art longing imagination Mood melancholic hopeful Type poetic philosophical When to use this quote - creative writing - visual arts - mindfulness practice Key Concepts transformative perception creative yearning Questions to Reflect On - How does longing affect perception? - Can imagination heal loss? A Different Perspective Imagination may obscure reality. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Longing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/longing/) [Nostalgia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nostalgia/) [Song](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/song/) ## Related quotes > [“She pretended not to notice the look of longing in his eyes. It didn’t mean anything.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-o-brien/she-pretended-not-to-notice-the-look-of-longing-in-his-eyes-it-didn-t/) Kevin O'Brien > [“... but there lies a pain and longing in his eyes, a look of horror as he sees a batlike form crawl to its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-r-r-tolkien/but-there-lies-a-pain-and-longing-in-his-eyes-a-look-of-horror-as-he/) [J.R.R. Tolkien](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-r-r-tolkien/) > [She looked at his young face, so full of concern and tenderness; and she remembered why she had run away from everyone else and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-follett/she-looked-at-his-young-face-so-full-of-concern-and-tenderness-and/) [Ken Follett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-follett/) > [I Miss You. My heart is longing for you. My eyes want to see you. My arms want to touch you. I'm nothing without…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sudip-kshetri/i-miss-you-my-heart-is-longing-for-you-my-eyes-want-to-see-you-my/) [Sudip Kshetri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sudip-kshetri/) > [O thou with dewy locks, who lookest down Thro' the clear windows of the morning, turn Thine angel eyes upon our western isle, Which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-blake/o-thou-with-dewy-locks-who-lookest-down-thro-the-clear-windows-of-the/) [William Blake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-blake/) > [“If Thecla had symbolized love of which I felt myself undeserving, as I know now that she did, then did her symbolic force disappear…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gene-wolfe/if-thecla-had-symbolized-love-of-which-i-felt-myself-undeserving-as-i/) [Gene Wolfe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gene-wolfe/) > [“I looked up and our eyes locked. I could see the longing in his eyes. 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I'm nothing without you!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nickey-noeth/my-heart-is-longing-for-you-my-eyes-want-to-see-you-my-arms-want-to/) [Nickey Noeth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nickey-noeth/) > [“She squeezed her eyes shut. “No.” “Excuse me?” She sniffed, opened her eyes then looked up. “No. I don’t wish you to leave.” His…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cari-silverwood/she-squeezed-her-eyes-shut-no-excuse-me-she-sniffed-opened-her-eyes/) [Cari Silverwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cari-silverwood/) > [“Two people, Chinese civilians, were heading toward me. Shit. I averted my eyes and changed my posture, dropping my shoulders, adopting a more rolling…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barry-eisler/two-people-chinese-civilians-were-heading-toward-me-shit-i-averted-my/) [Barry Eisler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barry-eisler/) > [“Children of the Law,’ I said, ‘he is not dead.’ M’ling turned his sharp eyes on me. ‘He has changed his shape - he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-g-wells-3/children-of-the-law-i-said-he-is-not-dead-m-ling-turned-his-sharp/) [H G Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-g-wells-3/) > [“To a casual passerby, his appearance would not have inspired much confidence. His overcoat was patched in spots and frayed at the cuffs, he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-stephens/to-a-casual-passerby-his-appearance-would-not-have-inspired-much/) [John Stephens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-stephens/) ## More by Robert Hass > [It's the same with this idea of a literate public, and also of a democracy in which people have access to and really read…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/it-s-the-same-with-this-idea-of-a-literate-public-and-also-of-a/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [All the new thinking is about loss. In this it resembles all the old thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/all-the-new-thinking-is-about-loss-in-this-it-resembles-all-the-old/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [Poetry, when it takes sides, when it proposes solutions, isn't any smarter than anybody else.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/poetry-when-it-takes-sides-when-it-proposes-solutions-isn-t-any/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [When I was in college, I lost my scholarship one year. I had enough money for tuition, but not room and board. So I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/when-i-was-in-college-i-lost-my-scholarship-one-year-i-had-enough/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [As poet laureate, I was asked to be a spokesman for literature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/as-poet-laureate-i-was-asked-to-be-a-spokesman-for-literature/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [After Pope, in the beginning of Romanticism, people developed the idea that imagination rather than reason was a special form of knowledge and its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/after-pope-in-the-beginning-of-romanticism-people-developed-the-idea/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [They are the kinds of things that make us a community: attachment to place, attachment to local arts traditions, the ability to read literature,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/they-are-the-kinds-of-things-that-make-us-a-community-attachment-to/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [I think that were I in the middle of an obsession to write about, say, sudden oak death in California or my grandchildren or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/i-think-that-were-i-in-the-middle-of-an-obsession-to-write-about-say/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [I suppose there's something to be said for the sheer reinforcement of our beliefs, but really I think poetry is more useful as disenchantment…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/i-suppose-there-s-something-to-be-said-for-the-sheer-reinforcement-of/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [If you were making poetry out of convictions - trying to convince other people - you were in the territory of rhetoric, and that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/if-you-were-making-poetry-out-of-convictions-trying-to-convince-other/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [Milton was the first person who really experimented with putting politics into sonnets.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/milton-was-the-first-person-who-really-experimented-with-putting/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [When I came into the job, funding for the humanities at the federal level was being drastically cut. This was the high tide of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/when-i-came-into-the-job-funding-for-the-humanities-at-the-federal/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [One may prefer spring and summer to autumn and winter, but preference is hardly to the point. The earth turns, and we live in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/one-may-prefer-spring-and-summer-to-autumn-and-winter-but-preference/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [“ A Faint Music by Robert Hass Maybe you need to write a poem about grace. When everything broken is broken, and everything dead…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/a-faint-music-by-robert-hass-maybe-you-need-to-write-a-poem-about/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [“When everything broken is broken, and everything dead is dead, and the hero has looked into the mirror with complete contempt, and the heroine…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/when-everything-broken-is-broken-and-everything-dead-is-dead-and-the/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) [Explore all 128 Robert Hass quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) ## More Longing quotes > [At the centre of the human heart is the longing for an absolute good, a longing which is always there and is never appeased…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-weil/at-the-centre-of-the-human-heart-is-the-longing-for-an-absolute-good/) [Simone Weil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-weil/) > [“Haunted by the longing to feel something real, deep and magical; I searched for a shared ecstasy... that's when you came along.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lebo-grand/haunted-by-the-longing-to-feel-something-real-deep-and-magical-i/) [Lebo Grand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lebo-grand/) > [Sometimes it has to do with other longings that are much more existential. Sometimes you go elsewhere not because you are not liking the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/esther-perel/sometimes-it-has-to-do-with-other-longings-that-are-much-more/) [Esther Perel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/esther-perel/) > [Could it be in longing we are most ourselves?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/li-young-lee/could-it-be-in-longing-we-are-most-ourselves/) [Li-Young Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/li-young-lee/) > [Tireless passion, fierce jealousy, longing to possess and crush-these alone were left of all his love for Rosalind; these remained to him as payment…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/f-scott-fitzgerald/tireless-passion-fierce-jealousy-longing-to-possess-and-crush-these/) [F. Scott Fitzgerald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/f-scott-fitzgerald/) > [“She pretended not to notice the look of longing in his eyes. It didn’t mean anything.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-o-brien/she-pretended-not-to-notice-the-look-of-longing-in-his-eyes-it-didn-t/) Kevin O'Brien > [The artist's experience lies so unbelievably close to the sexual, to its pain and its pleasure, that the two phenomena are really just different…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rainer-maria-rilke/the-artist-s-experience-lies-so-unbelievably-close-to-the-sexual-to/) [Rainer Maria Rilke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rainer-maria-rilke/) > [“My only enemy is the miles of distance that's there between us, my favorite place is the road that leads me to you -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jyoti-patel/my-only-enemy-is-the-miles-of-distance-that-s-there-between-us-my/) [Jyoti Patel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jyoti-patel/) > [The sense that in this universe we are treated as strangers, the longing to be acknowledged, to meet with some response, to bridge some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-sense-that-in-this-universe-we-are-treated-as-strangers-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [By the time they were pulling into the parking lot of the A&P, the mood was fading, the moment gone. Amy could feel it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-strout/by-the-time-they-were-pulling-into-the-parking-lot-of-the-a-p-the/) [Elizabeth Strout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-strout/) > [But I still has enough longing for that concept that I didn't want to dispel it completely. Meaning: I didn't want to tell Lily…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-levithan/but-i-still-has-enough-longing-for-that-concept-that-i-didn-t-want-to/) [David Levithan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-levithan/) > [Do the kind of things that come from the heart, When you do, you won't be dissatisfied, you won't be envious, you won't be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/do-the-kind-of-things-that-come-from-the-heart-when-you-do-you-won-t/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“And how do you really feel? Like I'll never recover. Like I'll never draw another breath without half of it being a wish for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-seville/and-how-do-you-really-feel-like-i-ll-never-recover-like-i-ll-never/) [Jane Seville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-seville/) > [The future teachers I try to recruit are those show have refused to let themselves be neutered in this way, either in their private…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-kozol/the-future-teachers-i-try-to-recruit-are-those-show-have-refused-to/) [Jonathan Kozol](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-kozol/) > [The greatest tales, well told, awaken the fears and longings of the listeners. Each man hears a different story. Each is touched by it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juliet-marillier/the-greatest-tales-well-told-awaken-the-fears-and-longings-of-the/) [Juliet Marillier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juliet-marillier/) [Browse all 2,553 Longing quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/longing/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The awful longing in his eyes, are changed forever On their rocky waste of island by their imagination Of his imagination of the song they didn't sing.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Robert Hass" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/the-awful-longing-in-his-eyes-are-changed-forever-on-their-rocky/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Longing" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/the-awful-longing-in-his-eyes-are-changed-forever-on-their-rocky/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4a5/robert-hass-3548_longing_the-awful-longing-in-his-eyes-are-change_947707.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4a5/robert-hass-3548_longing_the-awful-longing-in-his-eyes-are-change_947707.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4a5/robert-hass-3548_longing_the-awful-longing-in-his-eyes-are-change_947707.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The awful longing in his eyes, are changed forever On their rocky waste of island by their imagination Of…” — Robert Hass", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Robert Hass", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“The awful longing in his eyes,...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/the-awful-longing-in-his-eyes-are-changed-forever-on-their-rocky/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/the-awful-longing-in-his-eyes-are-changed-forever-on-their-rocky/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```