"The only faith that wears well and holds its color in all weathers is that which is woven of conviction and set with the sharp mordant of experience"
About this Quote
Faith, Lowell insists, is not a Sunday fabric you put on for display; its real test is whether it survives rain, sweat, and abrasion. The line works because it refuses the comforting version of belief as something airy and self-sustaining. Instead, he drags it into the workshop: faith as cloth, dyed and fixed. Conviction is the thread - chosen, personal, not inherited by default. Experience is the mordant, the harsh chemical that makes color bite into fiber so it won t wash out. That word choice matters. A mordant stains; it also burns. Lowell is implying that durable belief is purchased through contact with the world, and that contact is rarely gentle.
The subtext has a moral edge typical of Lowell s era: mid-19th-century America, where reform movements, religious ferment, and political crisis made abstract piety look suspiciously convenient. Lowell, an abolitionist-leaning poet who watched the nation argue about slavery, conscience, and duty, is quietly separating beliefs that accessorize identity from beliefs that compel action. A faith that "holds its color" is one that does not fade when it becomes socially costly.
It is also a warning about secondhand certainty. Faith "woven of conviction" cannot be outsourced to tradition or authority; it has to be made. Lowell s craft metaphors let him sound elevated while delivering a bracingly practical claim: if your belief has never been tested, it is probably just dye on the surface.
The subtext has a moral edge typical of Lowell s era: mid-19th-century America, where reform movements, religious ferment, and political crisis made abstract piety look suspiciously convenient. Lowell, an abolitionist-leaning poet who watched the nation argue about slavery, conscience, and duty, is quietly separating beliefs that accessorize identity from beliefs that compel action. A faith that "holds its color" is one that does not fade when it becomes socially costly.
It is also a warning about secondhand certainty. Faith "woven of conviction" cannot be outsourced to tradition or authority; it has to be made. Lowell s craft metaphors let him sound elevated while delivering a bracingly practical claim: if your belief has never been tested, it is probably just dye on the surface.
Quote Details
| Topic | Faith |
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