John Greenleaf Whittier, Cities of the Plain, Stanza 4.

And beautiful maidens moved down in the dance, With the magic of motion and sunshine of glance: And white arms wreathed lightly, and tresses fell free As the plumage of birds in some tropical tree.

— John Green on Dance

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "And beautiful maidens moved down in the dance, With the magic of motion and sunshine of glance: And white arms wreathed lightly, and tresses fell free As the plumage of birds in some tropical tree." in the context of "John Greenleaf Whittier, Cities of the Plain, Stanza 4." to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Dance" (Quotes, Hoyt's New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations: Quotes reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 156-158.) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
John Green

About John Green

John Green (born 24 August 1977) is an American author of young adult fiction, who has appeared on the New York Times best sellers list several times. He also publishes a video blog with his brother Hank Green as "vlogbrothers". A massive community has popped up around the videos that the brothers call 'Nerdfighteria.' John lives with his wife and two kids in Indianapolis.