Carolina QuotesDeath and the devil, what are these to him? His being accuses him — and yet his face is firm In resolution, in absolute persistence; The folds of smiling do for steadiness; The face is its own fate — a man does what he must — And the body underneath it says: I am.
Randall Jarrell Carolinian
Source
"The Knight, Death and the Devil," lines 34-39
- work
- The Seven-League Crutches (1951)
- year
- 1951
Cite this record
“Death and the devil, what are these to him? His being accuse…” Randall Jarrell. Carolina Quotes, record CQ-379C839F1E. https://carolinaquotes.com/quote/379c839f1e
More from Randall Jarrell
[Alexander North] Whitehead is supposed to have said of, Bertrand] Russell: “Bertie thinks me muddleheaded and I think Bertie simple-minded.”
Early in his life Mr. [Ezra] Pound met with strong, continued, and unintelligent opposition. If people keep opposing you when you are right, you think them fools; and after a time, right or wrong, you think them fools simply because they oppose you. Similarly, you write true things or good things, and end by thinking things true or good simply because you write them
His eye a ring inside a ring inside a ring That leers up, joyless, vile, in meek obscenity — This is the devil. Flesh to flesh, he bleats The herd back to the pit of being.