--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: This is the departure strip, the…" description: "\"“This is the departure strip, the dream-road. Whoever built it left numbers, words and arrows. He had to leave in a hurry.”\" — Robert Lowell" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f7f/robert-lowell-6901_departure_this-is-the-departure-strip-the-dream-ro_427822.jpg" --- # This is the departure strip, the dream-road. Whoever built… ![“This is the departure strip, the dream-road. Whoever built it left numbers, words and arrows. He had to leave in a hurry.” quote by Robert Lowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f7f/robert-lowell-6901_departure_this-is-the-departure-strip-the-dream-ro_427822.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f7f/robert-lowell-6901_departure_this-is-the-departure-strip-the-dream-ro_427822.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f7f/robert-lowell-6901_departure_this-is-the-departure-strip-the-dream-ro_427822.jpg) > ““This is the departure strip, the dream-road. Whoever built it left numbers, words and arrows. He had to leave in a hurry.”” [Robert Lowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-lowell/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Describes a symbolic departure road marked by hurried, cryptic signs, suggesting urgency and mystery. **In simple terms:** A hurried, mysterious road with signs. Key Takeaway Interpret symbols to understand life’s transitions. Themes mystery urgency symbolism journey interpretation Mood contemplative poetic Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - personal crises - travel decisions - creative inspiration Key Concepts existentialism poetic imagery Questions to Reflect On - What does the road represent for you? - How do you navigate hurried changes? A Different Perspective Symbols may be ambiguous, leading to misinterpretation. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Built Left](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/built-left-3777953/) [Departure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/departure/) [Departure Strip](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/departure-strip-3777951/) [Dream Road](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dream-road-3777952/) [Road](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/road/) [Road Built](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/road-built-2163978/) ## Related quotes > [Life is a great road that is paved with hope, love, faith, experience, and trials: if one follows a dream, this road leads beyond…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-moores/life-is-a-great-road-that-is-paved-with-hope-love-faith-experience/) [Sarah Moores](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-moores/) > [“...Aldersgate Street, the bottom of the A1 - which was the modern designation of the original Great North Road, built by the Romans two…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-f-hamilton/aldersgate-street-the-bottom-of-the-a1-which-was-the-modern/) [Peter F. Hamilton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-f-hamilton/) > [I created jobs and saved the taxpayers money on every road I built.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-king/i-created-jobs-and-saved-the-taxpayers-money-on-every-road-i-built/) [Steve King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-king/) > [When I came to Mogadishu...here was one road built by the Italians. If you try to force me to stand down, I will leave…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/siad-barre/when-i-came-to-mogadishu-here-was-one-road-built-by-the-italians-if/) [Siad Barre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/siad-barre/) > [It has never been, and never will be easy work! 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Never before was there such pain of ripping my heart apart…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-mcgahan/never-before-did-i-feel-so-bound-by-the-chains-of-the-soul-never/) [Kate McGahan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-mcgahan/) > [Any departure from fact is the first step on a slippery slope toward unbelievability.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-a-henry-iii/any-departure-from-fact-is-the-first-step-on-a-slippery-slope-toward/) [William A. Henry III](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-a-henry-iii/) > [Black and white photography is truly quite a 'departure from reality', and the transition from one aspect of visual magic to another was not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ansel-adams/black-and-white-photography-is-truly-quite-a-departure-from-reality/) [Ansel Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ansel-adams/) > [Science sees the process of evolution from the outside, as one might a train of cars going by, and resolves it into the physical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-burroughs/science-sees-the-process-of-evolution-from-the-outside-as-one-might-a/) [John Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-burroughs/) > [I always use the analogy that when you go to a jeans store and put on a new pair of jeans, it's a pair…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-bana/i-always-use-the-analogy-that-when-you-go-to-a-jeans-store-and-put-on/) [Eric Bana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-bana/) > [There is all the difference in the world between departure from recognised rules by one who has learned to obey them, and neglect of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-terry/there-is-all-the-difference-in-the-world-between-departure-from/) [Ellen Terry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-terry/) > [The album is a definite departure. I haven't written original material before, except for one song on my first album, but Elvis and I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diana-krall/the-album-is-a-definite-departure-i-haven-t-written-original-material/) [Diana Krall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diana-krall/) > [The last act in the biography of the hero is that of the death or departure.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/the-last-act-in-the-biography-of-the-hero-is-that-of-the-death-or/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) ## More by Robert Lowell > [“Naval officers were not mother's sort; very few people were her sort in those days, and that was her trouble - a very authentic,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-lowell/naval-officers-were-not-mother-s-sort-very-few-people-were-her-sort/) [Robert Lowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-lowell/) > [Pity the planet, all joy gone from this sweet volcanic cone; peace to our children when they fall in small war on the heel…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-lowell/pity-the-planet-all-joy-gone-from-this-sweet-volcanic-cone-peace-to/) [Robert Lowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-lowell/) > [“Then morning comes, saying, "This was a night.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-lowell/then-morning-comes-saying-this-was-a-night/) [Robert Lowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-lowell/) > [“The English departments were clogged with worthy but outworn and backwardlooking scholars whose tastes in the moderns were most often superficial, random, and vulgar.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-lowell/the-english-departments-were-clogged-with-worthy-but-outworn-and/) [Robert Lowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-lowell/) > [It's the light of the oncoming train.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-lowell/it-s-the-light-of-the-oncoming-train/) [Robert Lowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-lowell/) > [“Sleeper in the Valley" The river sings and cuts a hole in the meadow, madly hooking white tatters on the rushes. light escalades the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-lowell/sleeper-in-the-valley-the-river-sings-and-cuts-a-hole-in-the-meadow/) [Robert Lowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-lowell/) > [“Reading Myself" Like thousands I took just pride and more than just, struck matches that brought my blood to a boil; I memorized the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-lowell/reading-myself-like-thousands-i-took-just-pride-and-more-than-just/) [Robert Lowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-lowell/) > [Pity the planet, all joy gone from this sweet volcanic cone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-lowell/pity-the-planet-all-joy-gone-from-this-sweet-volcanic-cone/) [Robert Lowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-lowell/) > [“We are poor passing facts. warned by that to give each figure in the photograph his living name.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-lowell/we-are-poor-passing-facts-warned-by-that-to-give-each-figure-in-the/) [Robert Lowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-lowell/) > [“Those blessèd structures, plot and rhyme— why are they no help to me now I want to make something imagined, not recalled?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-lowell/those-bless-d-structures-plot-and-rhyme-why-are-they-no-help-to-me/) [Robert Lowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-lowell/) > [It's a completely powerful and serious book, as good as anything in prose or poetry written by a 'beat' writer, and one of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-lowell/it-s-a-completely-powerful-and-serious-book-as-good-as-anything-in/) [Robert Lowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-lowell/) > [Life begins to happen. My hoppped up husband drops his home disputes, and hits the streets to cruise for prostitutes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-lowell/life-begins-to-happen-my-hoppped-up-husband-drops-his-home-disputes/) [Robert Lowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-lowell/) > [“The slick bare tar, the same suburban station.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-lowell/the-slick-bare-tar-the-same-suburban-station/) [Robert Lowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-lowell/) > [“Things last, but sometimes for days here only children seem fit to handle children, and there is no utility or inspiration in the wind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-lowell/things-last-but-sometimes-for-days-here-only-children-seem-fit-to/) [Robert Lowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-lowell/) > [“One universe, one body...in this urn the animal night sweats of the spirit burn”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-lowell/one-universe-one-body-in-this-urn-the-animal-night-sweats-of-the/) [Robert Lowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-lowell/) [Explore all 96 Robert Lowell quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-lowell/) ## More Departure quotes > [The last act in the biography of the hero is that of the death or departure.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/the-last-act-in-the-biography-of-the-hero-is-that-of-the-death-or/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [The album is a definite departure. 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Henry III](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-a-henry-iii/) > [“Never before did I feel so bound by the chains of the soul. Never before was there such pain of ripping my heart apart…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-mcgahan/never-before-did-i-feel-so-bound-by-the-chains-of-the-soul-never/) [Kate McGahan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-mcgahan/) > [Protest beyond the law is not a departure from democracy; it is absolutely essential to it. It is a corrective to the sluggishness of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-zinn/protest-beyond-the-law-is-not-a-departure-from-democracy-it-is/) [Howard Zinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-zinn/) > [Departure should be sudden.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-disraeli/departure-should-be-sudden/) [Benjamin Disraeli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-disraeli/) > [“Packing up. The nagging worry of departure. When shutting drawers and flinging wide an hotel wardrobe, or the impersonal shelves of a furnished villa,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/packing-up-the-nagging-worry-of-departure-when-shutting-drawers-and/) [Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/) > [Our Lord Jesus Christ, a little before his departure, commissioned his apostles to Go, and teach all nations; or, as another evangelist expresses it,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-carey/our-lord-jesus-christ-a-little-before-his-departure-commissioned-his/) [William Carey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-carey/) > [The most amazing thing to me about the sea is the tide. 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Rubin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lillian-b-rubin/) > [We live in a dominant culture of ceaseless Departure and Progress that has so far lasted two or three centuries.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/we-live-in-a-dominant-culture-of-ceaseless-departure-and-progress/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) [Browse all 359 Departure quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/departure/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“This is the departure strip, the dream-road. Whoever built it left numbers, words and arrows. 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