--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Above the forest of the parakeets, A…" description: "\"Above the forest of the parakeets, A parakeet of parakeets prevails, A pip of life amid a mort of tails.\" — Wallace Stevens" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/461/wallace-stevens-846_bird_above-the-forest-of-the-parakeets-a-para_716010.jpg" --- # Above the forest of the parakeets, A parakeet of parakeets… ![“Above the forest of the parakeets, A parakeet of parakeets prevails, A pip of life amid a mort of tails.” quote by Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/461/wallace-stevens-846_bird_above-the-forest-of-the-parakeets-a-para_716010.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/461/wallace-stevens-846_bird_above-the-forest-of-the-parakeets-a-para_716010.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/461/wallace-stevens-846_bird_above-the-forest-of-the-parakeets-a-para_716010.jpg) > “Above the forest of the parakeets, A parakeet of parakeets prevails, A pip of life amid a mort of tails.” [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A vivid metaphor comparing a single vibrant life to a multitude of ordinary ones, highlighting individuality amidst conformity. **In simple terms:** A single bright life stands out among many. Key Takeaway Celebrate unique individuality. Themes individuality creativity nature beauty conformity Mood inspired contemplative poetic Type literary philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - artistic inspiration - personal identity - creative writing Key Concepts metaphor symbolism poetry Questions to Reflect On - What makes you feel unique? - How do you balance individuality with community? A Different Perspective The metaphor may be overly romanticized, ignoring collective value. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bird](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bird/) [Death](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/death/) [Forests](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/forests/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Parakeets](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/parakeets/) ## Related quotes > [How could anybody confuse truth with beauty, I thought as I looked at him. Truth came with sunken eyes, bony or scarred, decayed. Its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/how-could-anybody-confuse-truth-with-beauty-i-thought-as-i-looked-at/) [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) > [I had a parakeet that used to fly around the house and crash into these huge mirrors my mother put in. Ever heard of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-seinfeld/i-had-a-parakeet-that-used-to-fly-around-the-house-and-crash-into/) [Jerry Seinfeld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-seinfeld/) > [That I had never heard of such a bird did not surprise me… But others more experienced also did not know of the Carolina…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-cokinos/that-i-had-never-heard-of-such-a-bird-did-not-surprise-me-but-others/) [Christopher Cokinos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-cokinos/) > [Tom Ridge now says we don't have to run out and put plastic sheets all over the house. Great, tell that to my dead…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/craig-kilborn/tom-ridge-now-says-we-don-t-have-to-run-out-and-put-plastic-sheets/) [Craig Kilborn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/craig-kilborn/) > [I read, for the first time, of the Carolina Parakeet-a North American parakeet whose green, yellow and reddish-orange plumage appeared vivacious and altogether quite…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-cokinos/i-read-for-the-first-time-of-the-carolina-parakeet-a-north-american/) [Christopher Cokinos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-cokinos/) > [The busy chatter of the heat Shrilled like a parakeet; And shuddering at the noonday light The dust lay dead and white As powder…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-sitwell/the-busy-chatter-of-the-heat-shrilled-like-a-parakeet-and-shuddering/) [Edith Sitwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-sitwell/) > [Beauty was empty as a gourd, vain as a parakeet. But it had power. It smelled of musk and oranges and made you close…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/beauty-was-empty-as-a-gourd-vain-as-a-parakeet-but-it-had-power-it/) [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) > [“People who we had believed weren’t able to speak started speaking,” Thomas said. “People who had been completely withdrawn and nonambulatory started coming to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/atul-gawande/people-who-we-had-believed-weren-t-able-to-speak-started-speaking/) [Atul Gawande](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/atul-gawande/) > [You might be a redneck if your parakeet knows the phrase Open up, Police!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-foxworthy/you-might-be-a-redneck-if-your-parakeet-knows-the-phrase-open-up/) [Jeff Foxworthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-foxworthy/) > [Later, I learned that our forgetting of the parakeet had begun even before the species was extinct.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-cokinos/later-i-learned-that-our-forgetting-of-the-parakeet-had-begun-even/) [Christopher Cokinos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-cokinos/) > [Healthy parakeets have the nervous energy of tennis players.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mignon-mclaughlin/healthy-parakeets-have-the-nervous-energy-of-tennis-players/) [Mignon McLaughlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mignon-mclaughlin/) > [I grew up with two different parakeets - one that lived for five years, and one that lived for 13 years - so I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-parsons/i-grew-up-with-two-different-parakeets-one-that-lived-for-five-years/) [Jim Parsons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-parsons/) > [You never count your chickens before they hatch. I used to keep parakeets and I never counted every egg thinking I would get all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-holloway/you-never-count-your-chickens-before-they-hatch-i-used-to-keep/) [Ian Holloway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-holloway/) > [My ex-girlfriend owned a parakeet…oh my god, that f\*\*king thing would never shut up. But the bird was cool.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-jeselnik/my-ex-girlfriend-owned-a-parakeet-oh-my-god-that-f-king-thing-would/) [Anthony Jeselnik](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-jeselnik/) > [“Privately he called them a couple of puffed-up, dressed-up, made-up, stuck-up, brainless parakeets.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shirley-hughes/privately-he-called-them-a-couple-of-puffed-up-dressed-up-made-up/) Shirley Hughes ## More by Wallace Stevens > [Poet, patting more nonsense foamed From the sea, conceive for thecourts Of these academies, the diviner health Disclosed in common forms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/poet-patting-more-nonsense-foamed-from-the-sea-conceive-for-thecourts/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [The way through the world is more difficult to find than the way beyond it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/the-way-through-the-world-is-more-difficult-to-find-than-the-way/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [The magnificent cause of being, The imagination, the one reality In this imagined world](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/the-magnificent-cause-of-being-the-imagination-the-one-reality-in/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [Music falls on the silence like a sense / A passion that we feel, not understand.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/music-falls-on-the-silence-like-a-sense-a-passion-that-we-feel-not/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [The life of the city never lets you go, nor do you ever want it to.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/the-life-of-the-city-never-lets-you-go-nor-do-you-ever-want-it-to/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [After a lustre of the moon, we say We have not the need of any paradise, We have not the need of any seducing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/after-a-lustre-of-the-moon-we-say-we-have-not-the-need-of-any/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [I am what is around me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/i-am-what-is-around-me/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [“We live in an old chaos of the sun, Or old dependency of day and night, Or island solitude, unsponsored, free, Of that wide…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/we-live-in-an-old-chaos-of-the-sun-or-old-dependency-of-day-and-night/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [“Lunar Paraphrase" The moon is the mother of pathos and pity. When, at the wearier end of November, Her old light moves along the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/lunar-paraphrase-the-moon-is-the-mother-of-pathos-and-pity-when-at/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [Poetry is the scholar's art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/poetry-is-the-scholar-s-art/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [“The stars are putting on their glittering belts, They throw around their shoulders cloaks that flash Like a great shadow's last embellishment”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/the-stars-are-putting-on-their-glittering-belts-they-throw-around/) [wallace stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [Unfortunately there is nothing more inane than an Easter carol. It is a religious perversion of the activity of Spring in our blood.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/unfortunately-there-is-nothing-more-inane-than-an-easter-carol-it-is/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [The word is the making of the world](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/the-word-is-the-making-of-the-world/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [A diary is more or less the work of a man of clay whose hands are clumsy and in whose eyes there is no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/a-diary-is-more-or-less-the-work-of-a-man-of-clay-whose-hands-are/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [It is never the thing but the version of the thing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/it-is-never-the-thing-but-the-version-of-the-thing/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) [Explore all 352 Wallace Stevens quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) ## More Bird quotes > [And I have been very blessed, having coached some of the greatest that have ever played the game. 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If the husband be engaged in a seditious club, or drinks mysterious healths, or be frugal…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-addison/every-wife-ought-to-answer-for-her-man-if-the-husband-be-engaged-in-a/) [Joseph Addison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-addison/) > [Meanwhile, the trees were just as green as before; the birds sang and the sun shone as clearly now as ever. The familiar surroundings…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hardy/meanwhile-the-trees-were-just-as-green-as-before-the-birds-sang-and/) [Thomas Hardy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hardy/) > [When they started to drain a swamp where birds and fish had lived, for a new housing development down the road from his apartment,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maile-meloy/when-they-started-to-drain-a-swamp-where-birds-and-fish-had-lived-for/) [Maile Meloy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maile-meloy/) > [The bird with the thorn in its breast, it follows an immutable law; it is driven by it knows not what to impale itself,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colleen-mccullough/the-bird-with-the-thorn-in-its-breast-it-follows-an-immutable-law-it/) [Colleen McCullough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colleen-mccullough/) > [Real like sucks the life out of losers. if you want to fuck with the eagles, you must learn how to fly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/real-like-sucks-the-life-out-of-losers-if-you-want-to-fuck-with-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“If we studied birds ,maybe we could learn to be free.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-alire-s-enz/if-we-studied-birds-maybe-we-could-learn-to-be-free/) [Benjamin Alire Sáenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-alire-s-enz/) [Browse all 4,802 Bird quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bird/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Above the forest of the parakeets, A parakeet of parakeets prevails, A pip of life amid a mort of tails.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wallace Stevens" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/above-the-forest-of-the-parakeets-a-parakeet-of-parakeets-prevails-a/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Bird" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/above-the-forest-of-the-parakeets-a-parakeet-of-parakeets-prevails-a/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/461/wallace-stevens-846_bird_above-the-forest-of-the-parakeets-a-para_716010.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/461/wallace-stevens-846_bird_above-the-forest-of-the-parakeets-a-para_716010.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/461/wallace-stevens-846_bird_above-the-forest-of-the-parakeets-a-para_716010.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Above the forest of the parakeets, A parakeet of parakeets prevails, A pip of life amid a mort of tails.” — Wallace Stevens", "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": "Wallace Stevens", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Above the forest of the parakeets,...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/above-the-forest-of-the-parakeets-a-parakeet-of-parakeets-prevails-a/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/above-the-forest-of-the-parakeets-a-parakeet-of-parakeets-prevails-a/#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 } } ] } ```