"To enlarge or illustrate this power and effect of love is to set a candle in the sun"
About this Quote
In Robert Burton's quote, "To enlarge or illustrate this power and effect of love is to set a candle in the sun", the author utilizes a vibrant metaphor to convey the immeasurable and overwhelming nature of love's influence. The imagery of setting a candle light in the sun functions as a powerful comparison to show how any effort to emphasize or detail love's effect is insignificant or redundant when juxtaposed with love's huge radiance.
The sun, a symbol of enormous energy, light, and life-sustaining power, dwarfs the candle light's light-- a small, flickering flame. By this contrast, Burton recommends that love, just like the sun, is intrinsic and pervasive; it does not require augmentation or decoration to show its significance. When he speaks of enlarging or highlighting love's power, he implies that any additional elaboration on love's attributes would be unneeded since its effects are currently so evident and extensive in their natural form.
Furthermore, the metaphor highlights the notion that love is self-evident and needs no additional recognition or description. Love's existence and impacts are as natural and vital as daylight; understanding and experiencing love are fundamental to the human condition. Attempting to enhance or demonstrate love's influence may be seen as a futile or redundant exercise, as love is an axiom already evident to the heart and soul.
In essence, Burton's words commemorate the omnipresence and self-explanatory nature of love. Simply as a candle light's light is rendered undetectable by the overwhelming brightness of the sun, so too are our efforts to show love eclipsed by love's intrinsic and glowing existence in our lives. Through this metaphor, Burton wonderfully encapsulates the idea that love is a basic and axiomatic force, underpinning human feelings and interactions.