Teasdale crafts a purposefully abstract metaphor here. Each piece of the simile defies comprehension. In no direct way is music like gold, but the comparison gives music a connotation of great value. It is not clear either what the “curve of gold” refers to, nor how music might curve. The three nouns fail to meaningfully meet one another. Yet this is precisely the purpose. Teasdale means to show us the ways in which language falls short of conveying beauty. There is no phrase that can fully evoke a passage of beautiful music.
