Where Alph, the sacred river, ran Through caverns measureless to man Down to a sunless sea.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran Through caverns measureless to...
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran Through caverns measureless to...
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran Through caverns measureless to...
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran Through caverns measureless to...
About This Quote

Here, Whitman uses a series of metaphors to describe a canyon. First, he says that the river "ran" through the canyon, which is a reference to a stream or a stream of water. Then he says that the water "ran" through those caverns. A cavern is a large underground passageway.

Next, he describes the water as running through those caverns as if it were flowing through those caverns. In other words, the water seemed to be running through those caverns as if they were made of water itself. He also refers to those caverns as being "measureless." This means that it is impossible to know the size of those caverns.

The idea of measureless is also a common aspect of poetry because it allows for a great deal of creativity in a piece.

Source: Kubla Khan

Some Similar Quotes
  1. Perhaps the truth depends on a walk around the lake. - Wallace Stevens
  2. To be great, be whole; Exclude nothing, exaggerate nothing that is not you. Be whole in everything. Put all you are Into the smallest thing you do. So, in each lake, the moon shines with splendor Because it blooms up above. - Fernando Pessoa
  3. The poet's job is to put into words those feelings we all have that are so deep, so important, and yet so difficult to name, to tell the truth in such a beautiful way, that people cannot live without it. - Jane Kenyon
  4. Truth is a friendthat asks for loyaltyand acceptancethen it enters our heartsdissolving the boundariesfreeing us from lonliness - Nirmala
  5. Trees are poems the earth writes upon the sky, We fell them down and turn them into paper, That we may record our emptiness. - Kahlil Gibran
More Quotes By Samuel Taylor Coleridge
  1. Day after day, day after day, We stuck, nor breath nor motion; As idle as a painted ship Upon a painted ocean.
  2. Advice is like snow; the softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon, and the deeper it sinks into the mind.
  3. No man was ever yet a great poet, without at the same time being a profound philosopher.
  4. Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.
  5. Silence does not always mark wisdom.
Related Topics