Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.

angliholic · #1 (**permalink**) 06-Dec-2007, 22:25

Willliam Wordsworth said, "Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings."

Could I replace overflow in the above with flowing/flow and mean much about the same? Thanks.

mshgemini37 · #2 (**permalink**) 06-Dec-2007, 23:00

I just love that quote so I had to respond.
You could use "flow" in its place but that would not have as much emphasis and "overflow" does.
You could not use "flowing" in its place unless you changed the sentence because the word "flowing" is an adjective (it describes things).
I hope that helps you!

angliholic · #3 (**permalink**) 07-Dec-2007, 14:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by mshgemini37

I just love that quote so I had to respond.
You could use "flow" in its place but that would not have as much emphasis and "overflow" does.
You could not use "flowing" in its place unless you changed the sentence because the word "flowing" is an adjective (it describes things).
I hope that helps you!

Thanks, mshgemini.

But could you tell me why flow would not have as much as emphasis as overflow does?