A pale feather lies by a small open window with a billowing sheer curtain against a lavender background.

Original artwork, not a still

Thomas Wentworth Higginson

When a thought takes one's breath away, a lesson on grammar seems an impertinence.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

Correcting someone's grammar can feel petty next to genuine astonishment. This line suggests that when language succeeds in stunning a reader, quibbling over its rules misses the point entirely. Wonder, in other words, outranks convention, at least for a moment.

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