Who came up with this quote on meaning in creative works?

January 5, 2007 11:33 AM

A paraphrased quote: 'As one creates (writes?), it's meaning is known to only two - himself and God. When one finishes, the meaning is only known to God.' So, where did this quote derive from? Who originally said it?

Note: my paraphrasing may be incredibly off. Long shots are welcome.

posted by evadery to writing & language (5 comments total)

Oops - left out a question I figured was obvious: What is the real quote?
posted by evadery at 11:39 AM on January 5, 2007

Here's a link to a discussion of it -- originally said by Robert Browning about one of his poems. But as this thread states, there were several variations of it that were reported.
posted by nancoix at 12:00 PM on January 5, 2007

It was Browning, referring to his poem "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came." This is from the Wikipedia article: Browning claimed that the poem came to him, fully-formed, in a dream, and said of it, "When I wrote this, God and Browning knew what it meant. Now God only knows."
posted by sleevener at 4:46 PM on January 5, 2007 [1 favorite]

Here's the poem. Worth reading.
posted by sleevener at 4:48 PM on January 5, 2007

Hmm...makes sense - I was a reader of Stephen King's Dark Tower back in the day...that's where I came across it (in researching it).

Thanks, team!
posted by evadery at 9:46 AM on January 8, 2007