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Meaning
The speaker says that, as a child, he intensely wondered how life felt from the perspective of other living beings. The line suggests a strong early empathy and curiosity about experiences outside his own. It presents this as a deep and almost constant childhood interest.
When It Was Said
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Who It Was Said To
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Historical Context
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Source
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Original Language & Translation
Originally said in English.
Did They Really Say It?
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Did You Know?
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About John Burnside
Scottish writer
John Burnside was a Scottish writer, known for his poetry and for the recognition his work received in major literary prizes. He was one of four poets to win both the T. S. Eliot Prize and the Forward Poetry Prize for a single collection, Black Cat Bone, in 2011. In 2023, he received the David Cohen Prize for his body of work.
More from John Burnside (103 quotes) →More quotes by John Burnside
- “It takes a true encounter to realise that real animals, wild animals, have all but passed from our lives.”John Burnside
- “What is essential - the one thing that could stop us being coarsened to other lives - is that we feel a great…”John Burnside
- “When you have a child, you think about your personal history and what you offer them as a larger narrative, a…”John Burnside
- “I remember how, back in the 1980s, the Scottish Flow Country became an object of bemused controversy as rich…”John Burnside
Explore Curiosity
- “Through the realization of the potentials and possibilities within and outside of you, one connects imaginati…”Darrell Calkins
- “People like me are blamed for curiosity; having lost part of our lives, we are apt to fill the gap from the l…”Mary Renault
- “Traditionally, true contemplation involves an act of devotion, wherein self-consciousness is removed by trans…”Darrell Calkins
READ THE SOURCE
Books by John Burnside
The Devil's Footprints
2007
The devil's footprints
2007