We read poetry because the poets, like ourselves, have been haunted by the inescapable tyranny of time and death; have suffered the pain of loss, and the more wearing, continuous pain of frustration and failure; and have had moods of unlooked-for release and peace. They have known and watched in themselves and others.
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The death of Dr. Hudson is a loss to the republick of letters.
The death of Dr. Hudson is a loss to the republick of letters.
As I was going up the stairI met a man who wasn't thereHe wasn't there again todayI wish, I wish read more
As I was going up the stairI met a man who wasn't thereHe wasn't there again todayI wish, I wish he'd stay away. - The Psychoed.
If a poet has any obligation toward society, it is to write well. Being in the minority, he has no read more
If a poet has any obligation toward society, it is to write well. Being in the minority, he has no other choice. Failing this duty, he sinks into oblivion. Society, on the other hand, has no obligation toward the poet. A majority by definition, society thinks of itself as having other options than reading verses, no matter how well written. Its failure to do so results in its sinking to that level of locution at which society falls easy prey to a demagogue or a tyrant. This is society's own equivalent of oblivion.
In literature as in love we are astounded by what is chosen by others.
In literature as in love we are astounded by what is chosen by others.
I made a compact with myself that in my person literature should
stand by itself, of itself, and for read more
I made a compact with myself that in my person literature should
stand by itself, of itself, and for itself.
Woe to him who teaches men faster than they can learn.
Woe to him who teaches men faster than they can learn.
If you look at history you'll find that no state has been so plagued by its rulers as when power read more
If you look at history you'll find that no state has been so plagued by its rulers as when power has fallen into the hands of some dabbler in philosophy or literary addict.
Yet ah! why should they know their fate?Since sorrow never comes too late,And happiness too swiftly flies.Thought would destroy their read more
Yet ah! why should they know their fate?Since sorrow never comes too late,And happiness too swiftly flies.Thought would destroy their paradise.No more; where ignorance is bliss,'Tis folly to be wise. - Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College.
