"If youth did not matter so much to itself, it would never have the heart to go on"?

Question

I keep marinating on this line from Willa Cather's "Song of a Lark," but I can't quite grasp its meaning. What are your thoughts?

Btw...... I promise this isn't for a homework assignment. I just adore that book, & am curious as to what older people think about the line.

Thx in advance for your answers.

: )

Answer 1

I guess you could say that to all people of all ages... but I suppose it applies acutely to youth!! especially to you!

Maybe there is also a bit of evolutionary psychology in that statement too!

EDIT... Sky for such an intelligent girl you dont realize that I am actually answering the question in the most precise way possible... YOU ARE YOUTH!

Sky? If you did not matter so much to yourself, you would not have the heart to go to such lengths as to be able to go to Paris!!!

If my life didn't matter to myself so much... I would not have the heart to go on... that's why people who are severely depressed and nihilistic end up suicidal... cos their life matters little to them. Lucky that we have been endowed by God (aka evolution) with a sense of self worth that seems to matter more than most things in the universe... rather hubris of us dont you think??? but it is that hubris-ness that allows us to survive as a species.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubris

Answer 2

I'm not older, sorry, I'm a teenager.

But I think it might mean that young people are self-obsessed, and that really they're not worth all that, and if they weren't blinded by the self-obsession, they'd realise this.

As a teenager might say it, they're 'stuck up' and need to 'get over themselves'.

This might be an overly cynical view, though. Sorry.