Books · 1840
Deeds let escape are never to be done.
— Robert Browning · Sordello
Behind the line May contain spoilers.
Our reading
An editorial interpretation.
Deeds allowed to slip away, the line says, can never be carried out afterward. It treats action as bound to its moment: an opportunity not seized while it is present is lost for good, so hesitation amounts to a kind of permanent undoing.
Context reviewed