Learning why one great book is just like every other great book is the key to understanding literature

Learning why one great book is just like every other great book is the key to understanding literature

Poetry must have something in it that is barbaric, vast and wild.

Poetry must have something in it that is barbaric, vast and wild.

I dare say I am compelled, unconsciously compelled, now to write volume after volume, as in past years I was read more

I dare say I am compelled, unconsciously compelled, now to write volume after volume, as in past years I was compelled to go to sea, voyage after voyage. Leaves must follow upon each other as leagues used to follow in the days gone by, on and on to the appointed end, which, being truth itself, is one -- one for all men and for all occupations.

In the history of literature there are many great enduring works which were not published in the lifetimes of the read more

In the history of literature there are many great enduring works which were not published in the lifetimes of the authors. If the authors had not achieved self-affirmation while writing, how could they have continued to write? - Nobel Lecture 2000.

Only those things are beautiful which are inspired by madness and written by reason.

Only those things are beautiful which are inspired by madness and written by reason.

Literature is the immortality of speech.

Literature is the immortality of speech.

Accuse not nature, she hath done her part;Do thou but thine, and be not diffidentOf wisdom, she deserts thee not, read more

Accuse not nature, she hath done her part;Do thou but thine, and be not diffidentOf wisdom, she deserts thee not, if thouDismiss not her, when most thou needest her nigh,By attributing overmuch to thingsLess excellent, as thou thyself perceivest. - Paradise Lost.

Poetry is at least an elegance and at most a revelation.

Poetry is at least an elegance and at most a revelation.

The essay is a literary device for saying almost everything about almost anything.

The essay is a literary device for saying almost everything about almost anything.