Art > Paintings > Watts
… and then, little by little, as they gathered dust,, and each successive string broke, giving up hope, each string a hawser … snapping off, the highest pitched string always first, snapping with sharp gun-like reports, or provocative nocturnal meows, like a nightmare in the soul of George Frederic WattsUTV, 155.

Hugh's despondency is defined in terms of George Frederic Watts's Hope (1886), now in the Tate. Hugely popular in its time, the figure embodies the Despair out of which Hope arises; sitting on a globe, her eyes covered, clutching a "songless lyre" with but one string left.