Do Stones Feel?
Do Stones Feel? - meaning Summary
Wonder Against a Lifeless World
The poem questions the assumption that only humans and animals possess feeling. Through stones, trees, and clouds, the speaker imagines a natural world with patience, delight, and relief. Although "most of the world" rejects this idea, the speaker refuses that conclusion because a lifeless universe feels emotionally unbearable. The poem presents attentive wonder as an ethical choice: nature may deserve sympathy even when its inner life cannot be proved.
Read Complete AnalysesDo stones feel? Do they love their life? Or does their patience drown out everything else? When I walk on the beach I gather a few white ones, dark ones, the multiple colors. Don’t worry, I say, I'll bring you back, and I do. Is the tree as it rises delighted with its many branches, each one like a poem? Are the clouds glad to unburden their bundles of rain? Most of the world says no, no, it’s not possible. I refuse to think to such a conclusion. ‘Too terrible it would be, to be wrong.
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