Related quotes: All art is at once...

All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so at their own peril. Those who read the symbol do so at their own peril.

Oscar Wilde in The Picture of Dorian Gray
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Related quotes

All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril. Those who read the symbol do so at their peril. It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors. Diversity of opinion about a work of art shows that the work is new, complex, and vital.

Oscar Wilde in The Picture of Dorian Gray
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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Initial Attraction

What lies beneath the surface smile?
which you display to everyone?
The mask you wear to be in style.
What lies beneath is yours alone.

Does it indicate interest?
What lies beneath the surface smile?
And will I perhaps pass the test
enjoy your company for a while.

Is it a sign of practiced guile?
or simple act of self defence.
What lies beneath the surface smile?
Must I rely on my sixth sense?

My need to know grows more intense
I am prepared to wait awhile
to try and gain your confidence.
What lies beneath the surface smile?

(poeticpiers/20/07/2007)

poem by Ivor Or Ivor.e Hogg
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Art of Symbol

Whether meaningful, or just beautiful
Whether easy to understand, whether full of mystery
A simply shape, or a detailed design
Symbol is created

From nature, from imagination
From dream, from experience
Whether adaptable, whether unchanged
Symbol is taken

For secrecy, for practical
The color, the code
To unite, to protect
Symbol is used

God's sign, devil's mark
Good luck, bad omen
A clear help, or a hidden warning
Symbol is interpreted

poem by Maria Sudibyo
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Introductory Verses

Oh, you who read some song that I have sung –
What know you of the soul from whence it sprung?

Dost dream the poet ever speaks aloud
His secret thought unto the listening crowd?

Go take the murmuring sea-shell from the shore-
You have its shape, its colour – and no more.

It tells not one of those vast mysteries
That lie beneath the surface of the seas.

Our songs are shells, cast out by waves of thought;
Here, take them at your pleasure; but think not

You’ve seen the beneath the surface of the waves,
Where lie our shipwrecks, and our coral caves.

poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
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Mr. Burns is a father symbol to me, and you can omit the word symbol.

quote by Bobby Darin
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I hate the whole reluctant sex-symbol thing. It's such bull. You see these dudes greased up, in their underwear, talking about how they don't want to be a sex symbol.

quote by Ben Affleck
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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If The Surface For Them Did Not Exist

If the surface didn't exist,
Many wouldn't have a thought to cling to.
Many wouldn't know,
Which gossip heard was true.
If the surface for them did not exist.

If the surface didn't exist,
The many dependent on having lives not their own...
Would be lost without being told what to do.
Many absolutely would not have a clue...
How to find their way around,
Without following in someone's footsteps.
If the surface they sniffed did not exist.

And if the surface for them did not exist...
They would not be able to sit alone,
Doing something completely on their own...
And appreciating life,
With the minding of their own business.
If...
The surface for many did not exist,
It would be taumatic for them to seek a thought process.
Many would not know where or how to begin.

So many are accustomed to living lives that are shallow.
With an ability only to identify with that...
Which is supplied and arrives to them surfacely.
Even a dog sniffing tries to find a place to bury a bone.
And doing that alone.

poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Whether he admits it or not, a man has been brought up to look at money as a sign of his virility, a symbol of his power, a bigger phallic symbol than a Porsche.

quote by Victoria Billings
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Shaka The Zulu

Here he comes with his muscular
body, in his hands lay the symbol
of Africa the symbol that have sent
many great warriors six feet beneath.
The sound of his voice bring silence
among the bird of the sky.

Shaka the son of Zulu he believe that he
is a true son of Africa.In the battle field
with the great symbol of Africa in his hands
he believe that nobody can defeat him, his
peer believe that he is a god among the
living creature.

Shaka the Zulu he believe in the black power
with iron hands he rule the people of Zulu with
the help of the witch doctors he conquer the
Africa.The name Shaka bring fear in the camp
of the white.

poem by Enyinwa Okechukwu Enyinwa
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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The Symbol Of Trust

It is about you and me,
And it is about lust and love;
But where is the symbol of trust?
It is about a boy and a girl,
And it is about a man and a woman;
But where is the symbol of trust?
Allegations and manoevres,
But a better classroom will make the difference!
For today i have met you.

Who is telling the truth and, who is telling the lie?
For i am only human and do make mistakes at times;
But where is the my lover to satisfy me?

There is no pity in war!
And you are fighting bullets with stones;
But, where is the love that you promised me?

It is about the mind of peace and the mind at war,
And it is about you and i on this love;
But where is the symbol of trust?
It is about the world that we live in,
And it is about the lust of the people than love;
But where is the symbol of trust?
Now i know where this world is heading towards.

poem by Edward Kofi Louis
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Skull & Bones

A grisly symbol of what evil men can do
This Skull & Bones symbol of destruction
Aggression toward neighbors they pursue
By using methods of leadership seduction

ROTMS

poem by Ray Lucero
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Woman is not born: she is made. In the making, her humanity is destroyed. She becomes symbol of this, symbol of that: mother of the earth, slut of the universe; but she never becomes herself because it is forbidden for her to do so.

quote by Andrea Dworkin
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Symbol of love

When you and your wife had your baby, he became the ultimate symbol of love that you two share.
He represents a love that will stand the test of time and that shines brighter than a flare.
Some people think that wedding rings are the symbol of love between a man and his wife.
But wedding rings are just pieces of metal and they can't touch the symbol of love that comes from this tiny life.

poem by Randy Johnson
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From Doveglion, the use of a comma

Purity... before, I,
Stepped, to, the, Door, and,
At, the, Door—
And, as, I, passed,
Out, the, Door...

Line, orbit, locus:
Peril, deed, and, map, of,
Blaze! Peril,
Of, immediate,
Hunter: daze,

Whirl, of, supreme,
Migrator: pull, of, his,
Gravite, anchor!
Fact, act, of, me,
To, me: Knitter:

Cleaver, of, me, Intac

poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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As with all my work, whether it's a leaf on a rock or ice on a rock, I'm trying to get beneath the surface appearance of things. Working the surface of a stone is an attempt to understand the internal energy of the stone.

quote by Andy Goldsworthy
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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A rose with a prickle

To pursue the ball, to kick the ball,
And to snatch the ball, is a thrill.
Of course, to lose it, to be snatched off
And to fail to goal, puts you in peril.
Deny you not the pleasure, fearing the failure.
A peril after a thrill, if at all, is good.
17.03.2001, Pmdi

poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
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Art does not imitate, but interpret. It searches out the idea lying dormant in the symbol, in order to present the symbol to men in
such form as to enable them to penetrate through it to the idea. Were it otherwise, what would be the use or value of art?

quote by Giuseppe Mazzini
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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Surface Calm

Surface calm enfolds
the hidden tiger
of repressed emotions
sleeplessly prowling
within the inner reaches
of the mind’s cave.
Surface calm here holds
attention – geiger
counting the ocean motions
of reactivity, radioactivity
tuned into the wave lengths
of the [he]art’s rave.
Surface calm explodes
upon the calm surface
of a sheet which enfolds
the hidden tiger of.....

25 May 1991 revised? 31 May 2005

poem by Jonathan Robin
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Symbolized

There is a symbol,
On everything you claim you own.
There is a symbol.
Stamp on everything in this life.
Everything is marked.
And highlighted by a brand,
Nearing closer to the forehead...
Of your fellowman.
And you leave your world unpure?
'Let no man worhip any gods before ME? '
Said He.
The Almighty.
And many have replaced Him in their lives,
To deny it but are quite...
Symbolized!