All 4 Uses of
muse
in
The Souls of Black Folk
- Thus sadly musing, I rode to Nashville in the Jim Crow car.†
Chpt 4 *musing = reflecting (thinking) -- perhaps aloud
- So we sit musing, until, as we turn a corner on the sandy road, there comes a fairer scene suddenly in view,—a neat cottage snugly ensconced by the road, and near it a little store.†
Chpt 7
- I too mused above his little white bed; saw the strength of my own arm stretched onward through the ages through the newer strength of his; saw the dream of my black fathers stagger a step onward in the wild phantasm of the world; heard in his baby voice the voice of the Prophet that was to rise within the Veil.†
Chpt 11mused = thought -- possibly aloud
- And then he mused and dreamed, and planned a life-work; and the train flew south.†
Chpt 13
Definitions:
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(1)
(muse as in: her musings) reflect (think) deeply on a subject -- perhaps aloud
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(2)
(muse as in: She was his muse) the source of an artist's inspiration - especially a person or mythological goddessThe 9 muses were the daughters of the Greek gods Zeus & Mnemosyne. Each of the muses was thought to inspire and preside over one of the arts.
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(3)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
More rarely, muse is used as a synonym for "poet". In Shakespeare's time, muse could be used in the sense of being astonished or puzzled by something strange or unexpected.