“Under the olive trees, from the ground
Grows this flower, which is a wound.”

—  Stephen Spender

"The Coward"
The Still Centre (1939)
Context: Under the olive trees, from the ground
Grows this flower, which is a wound.
It is easier to ignore
Than the heroes' sunset fire
Of death plunged in their willed desire
Raging with flags on the world's shore.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Under the olive trees, from the ground Grows this flower, which is a wound." by Stephen Spender?
Stephen Spender photo
Stephen Spender76
English poet and man of letters 1909–1995

Related quotes

Alexandre Dumas photo

“It is not the tree that forsakes the flower, but the flower that forsakes the tree.”

Alexandre Dumas book The Count of Monte Cristo

Source: The Count of Monte Cristo

Robert Henri photo

“A tree growing out of the ground is as wonderful today as it ever was. It does not need to adopt new and startling methods.”

Robert Henri (1865–1929) American painter

Daniel Handler photo

“The rain, the rain, the rain. You can't even hear it outside the window but still it's a sad thing. Rain, the grade school teachers say, makes the trees and flowers grow, but we're not trees and flower, and so many grade school teachers are single.”

Daniel Handler book Adverbs

Adverbs (2006), Frigidly

Zeno of Citium photo

“If melodiously piping flutes sprang from the olive, would you doubt that a knowledge of flute-playing resided in the olive? And what if plane trees bore harps which gave forth rhythmical sounds? Clearly you would think in the same way that the art of music was possessed by plane trees. Why, then, seeing that the universe gives birth to beings that are animate and wise, should it not be considered animate and wise itself?”

Zeno of Citium (-334–-263 BC) ancient Greek philosopher

As quoted in De Natura Deorum by Cicero, ii. 8.

Denis Healey photo

“The trouble about Europe is what I call the Olive Line, the line below which people grow olives. North of the Olive Line people pay their taxes and spend public money very cautiously. South of it they fail to pay their taxes at all, but spend a lot of public money.”

Denis Healey (1917–2015) British Labour Party politician and Life peer

Interview https://www.channel4.com/news/by/michael-crick/blogs/healey-case-for-leaving-europe-stronger-than-staying with Michael Crick (9 May 2013) <br class="br">2010s

Amit Chaudhuri photo

“There was a gulmohar tree in the lane, the flaming orange flowers erupting from within, and banyan trees, private and removed as ancient pilgrims.”

Amit Chaudhuri book A New World

A New World (2000)

“So let me fly please lead me and I'll follow you
Above the clouds beyond the stormy sea
I long to share a world of sweet contentment there
In that bright land where grows the olive tree.”

Tom Springfield (1934) English musician, songwriter and record producer

Song The Olive Tree.

“Consider. One bullet in ten thousand kills a man.
Ask. Was so much expenditure justified
On the death of one so young and so silly
Lying under the olive tree, O world, O death?”

Stephen Spender (1909–1995) English poet and man of letters

"Ultima Ratio Regum"
The Still Centre (1939)
Context: Consider his life which was valueless
In terms of employment, hotel ledgers, news files.
Consider. One bullet in ten thousand kills a man.
Ask. Was so much expenditure justified
On the death of one so young and so silly
Lying under the olive tree, O world, O death?

Mike Huckabee photo

“So the stimulus didn't just waste your money; it planted the seeds from which the poisonous tree of death panels will grow.”

Mike Huckabee (1955) Arkansas politician

Related topics