There is first the literature of knowledge, and secondly, the
literature of power. The function of the first is--to teach; the
function of the second is--to move, the first is a rudder, the
second an oar or a sail. The first speaks to the mere discursive
understanding; the second speaks ultimately, it may happen, to
the higher understanding or reason, but always through affections
of pleasure and sympathy.
- Thomas De Quincey ("The Opium Eater"),
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You, the Spirit of the Settlement! ... Not understand that America is God's crucible, the great melting-pot where all the races of Europe are melting and re-forming! Here, you stand, good folk, think I, when I see them at Ellis Island, here you stand in your fifty groups, with your fifty languages and histories, and your fifty blood hatreds and rivalries... - Melting Pot, The.
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In our day the conventional element in literature is elaborately disguised by a law of copyright pretending that every work of art is an invention distinctive enough to be patented.
When a man can observe himself suffering and is able, later, to describe what he's gone through, it means he read more
When a man can observe himself suffering and is able, later, to describe what he's gone through, it means he was born for literature.
There is the view that poetry should improve your life. I think people confuse it with the Salvation Army.
There is the view that poetry should improve your life. I think people confuse it with the Salvation Army.
Ae fond kiss, and then we sever!A farewell, and then forever!Deep in heart-wrung tears I'll pledge thee,Warring sighs and groans read more
Ae fond kiss, and then we sever!A farewell, and then forever!Deep in heart-wrung tears I'll pledge thee,Warring sighs and groans I'll wage thee.Who shall say that Fortune grieves him,While the star of hope she leaves him?Me, nae cheerful twinkle lights me,Dark despair around benights me. - Ae Fond Kiss.
Books are humanity in print.
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And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, read more
And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. - Isaiah 2:4.
Poetry must have something in it that is barbaric, vast and wild.
Poetry must have something in it that is barbaric, vast and wild.
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The difficulty of literature is not to write, but to write what you mean; not to affect your reader, but to affect him precisely as you wish.
