{"id":92696,"date":"2015-12-08T18:12:22","date_gmt":"2015-12-08T23:12:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=92696"},"modified":"2015-12-08T18:19:10","modified_gmt":"2015-12-08T23:19:10","slug":"extra-this-is-the-meaning-of-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/08\/extra-this-is-the-meaning-of-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Extra, This Is the Meaning of Life"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_92698\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/101.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-92698\" class=\"wp-image-92698\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/101.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"455\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/101.jpg 644w, https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/101-300x227.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 62.5em) 67vw, 100vw\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-92698\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">From the cover of our Winter 1986 issue. Edward Ruscha, <i>Several Monograms<\/i> (detail), 1986, dry pigment and acrylic on paper.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em>\u201cSonnet,\u201d a poem by Delmore Schwartz from our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/back-issues\/101\">Winter 1986 issue<\/a>. Schwartz was born on this day in 1913 and died in 1966; this poem, dated 1938, was drawn from his unpublished manuscripts and typescripts at Yale University\u2019s Beinecke Library. Robert Phillips called it \u201ca good example of his earliest work, which took Eliot and Yeats as models. Compact, rhyming, and formal, the poems attempted to mythologize Schwartz, to dramatize history, and to pay homage to the world of culture.\u201d \u2014D. P.\u00a0<\/em><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>I follow thought and what the world announces<br \/>I lean to hear, and leaning too far over,<br \/>Fall, and babied by confusion, cover<br \/>Myself in drowse, too tired by such bounces.<br \/>But in sleep are dreams across zigzagging snow<br \/>Descending quietly and slow, like minutes,<br \/>And on this peace the soul again begins its<br \/>Rhetoric of desire, older than Jericho,<br \/>And rails once more, like birds of early morning<br \/>Urchinous on branches and like newsboys,<br \/>\u201cExtra, this is the meaning of life,<br \/>Here is the real good, beyond all turning,\u201d<br \/>Till night goes home, astonished by such cries,<br \/>I wake up, and, to feel superior, I laugh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cSonnet,\u201d a poem by Delmore Schwartz from our Winter 1986 issue. Schwartz was born on this day in 1913 and died in 1966; this poem, dated 1938, was drawn from his unpublished manuscripts and typescripts at Yale University\u2019s Beinecke Library. Robert Phillips called it \u201ca good example of his earliest work, which took Eliot and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":775,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1188],"tags":[9158,16301,3115,20486,4524,7221,165,962,1772],"class_list":["post-92696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-from-the-archive","tag-birthdays","tag-delmore-schwartz","tag-ezra-pound","tag-issue-101","tag-modernism","tag-poems","tag-poetry","tag-sonnets","tag-t-s-eliot"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.4 (Yoast SEO v25.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>\u201cSonnet,\u201d an Unpublished Poem by Delmore Schwartz<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Drawn from Schwartz\u2019s unpublished manuscripts, this poem appeared in our Winter 1986 issue.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/08\/extra-this-is-the-meaning-of-life\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Extra, This Is the Meaning of Life by Delmore Schwartz\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"December 8, 2015 \u2013 \u201cSonnet,\u201d a poem by Delmore Schwartz from our Winter 1986 issue. Schwartz was born on this day in 1913 and died in 1966; this poem, dated 1938, was drawn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/08\/extra-this-is-the-meaning-of-life\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-12-08T23:12:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-12-08T23:19:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/101.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"644\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"488\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Delmore Schwartz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Delmore Schwartz\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/08\/extra-this-is-the-meaning-of-life\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/08\/extra-this-is-the-meaning-of-life\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Delmore Schwartz\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/757558803acd1c41df59ea36a03a01a1\"},\"headline\":\"Extra, This Is the Meaning of Life\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-12-08T23:12:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-12-08T23:19:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/08\/extra-this-is-the-meaning-of-life\/\"},\"wordCount\":213,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/08\/extra-this-is-the-meaning-of-life\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/101.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"birthdays\",\"Delmore Schwartz\",\"Ezra Pound\",\"Issue 101\",\"modernism\",\"poems\",\"poetry\",\"sonnets\",\"T. S. Eliot\"],\"articleSection\":[\"From the Archive\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/08\/extra-this-is-the-meaning-of-life\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/08\/extra-this-is-the-meaning-of-life\/\",\"name\":\"\u201cSonnet,\u201d an Unpublished Poem by Delmore Schwartz\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/08\/extra-this-is-the-meaning-of-life\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/08\/extra-this-is-the-meaning-of-life\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/101.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-12-08T23:12:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-12-08T23:19:10+00:00\",\"description\":\"Drawn from Schwartz\u2019s unpublished manuscripts, this poem appeared in our Winter 1986 issue.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/08\/extra-this-is-the-meaning-of-life\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/08\/extra-this-is-the-meaning-of-life\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/08\/extra-this-is-the-meaning-of-life\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/101.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/101.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/08\/extra-this-is-the-meaning-of-life\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Extra, This Is the Meaning of Life\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"description\":\"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/757558803acd1c41df59ea36a03a01a1\",\"name\":\"Delmore Schwartz\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/29c799d24095521737bf4bbfa3923178ff533d958c6827e6b7df162bddb7daa4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/29c799d24095521737bf4bbfa3923178ff533d958c6827e6b7df162bddb7daa4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Delmore Schwartz\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/dschwartz\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\u201cSonnet,\u201d an Unpublished Poem by Delmore Schwartz","description":"Drawn from Schwartz\u2019s unpublished manuscripts, this poem appeared in our Winter 1986 issue.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/08\/extra-this-is-the-meaning-of-life\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Extra, This Is the Meaning of Life by Delmore Schwartz","og_description":"December 8, 2015 \u2013 \u201cSonnet,\u201d a poem by Delmore Schwartz from our Winter 1986 issue. Schwartz was born on this day in 1913 and died in 1966; this poem, dated 1938, was drawn","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/08\/extra-this-is-the-meaning-of-life\/","og_site_name":"The Paris Review","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","article_published_time":"2015-12-08T23:12:22+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-12-08T23:19:10+00:00","og_image":[{"width":644,"height":488,"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/101.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Delmore Schwartz","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@parisreview","twitter_site":"@parisreview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Delmore Schwartz","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/08\/extra-this-is-the-meaning-of-life\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/08\/extra-this-is-the-meaning-of-life\/"},"author":{"name":"Delmore Schwartz","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/757558803acd1c41df59ea36a03a01a1"},"headline":"Extra, This Is the Meaning of Life","datePublished":"2015-12-08T23:12:22+00:00","dateModified":"2015-12-08T23:19:10+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/08\/extra-this-is-the-meaning-of-life\/"},"wordCount":213,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/08\/extra-this-is-the-meaning-of-life\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/101.jpg","keywords":["birthdays","Delmore Schwartz","Ezra Pound","Issue 101","modernism","poems","poetry","sonnets","T. S. Eliot"],"articleSection":["From the Archive"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/08\/extra-this-is-the-meaning-of-life\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/08\/extra-this-is-the-meaning-of-life\/","name":"\u201cSonnet,\u201d an Unpublished Poem by Delmore Schwartz","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/08\/extra-this-is-the-meaning-of-life\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/08\/extra-this-is-the-meaning-of-life\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/101.jpg","datePublished":"2015-12-08T23:12:22+00:00","dateModified":"2015-12-08T23:19:10+00:00","description":"Drawn from Schwartz\u2019s unpublished manuscripts, this poem appeared in our Winter 1986 issue.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/08\/extra-this-is-the-meaning-of-life\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/08\/extra-this-is-the-meaning-of-life\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/08\/extra-this-is-the-meaning-of-life\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/101.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/101.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/08\/extra-this-is-the-meaning-of-life\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Extra, This Is the Meaning of Life"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","name":"The Paris Review","description":"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization","name":"The Paris Review","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"The Paris Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/757558803acd1c41df59ea36a03a01a1","name":"Delmore Schwartz","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/29c799d24095521737bf4bbfa3923178ff533d958c6827e6b7df162bddb7daa4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/29c799d24095521737bf4bbfa3923178ff533d958c6827e6b7df162bddb7daa4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Delmore Schwartz"},"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/dschwartz\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/775"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92696"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92696\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92702,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92696\/revisions\/92702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}