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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In our day the conventional element in literature is elaborately disguised by a law of copyright pretending that every work read more
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.
Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.
Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.
Do not trust the horse, Trojans! Whatever it is, I fear the Greeks, even though they bring gifts. - Aeneid, read more
Do not trust the horse, Trojans! Whatever it is, I fear the Greeks, even though they bring gifts. - Aeneid, The.
Housework is a breeze. Cooking is a pleasant diversion. Putting up a retaining wall is a lark. But teaching is read more
Housework is a breeze. Cooking is a pleasant diversion. Putting up a retaining wall is a lark. But teaching is like climbing a mountain.
What is wonderful about great literature is that it transforms the man who reads it towards the condition of the read more
What is wonderful about great literature is that it transforms the man who reads it towards the condition of the man who wrote.
In books, the proportion of exceptional to commonplace people is very high; in reality, very low.
In books, the proportion of exceptional to commonplace people is very high; in reality, very low.
People do not deserve to have good writings; they are so pleased with bad.
People do not deserve to have good writings; they are so pleased with bad.
Just as it is true that a stream cannot rise above its source, so it is true that a national read more
Just as it is true that a stream cannot rise above its source, so it is true that a national literature cannot rise above the moral level of the social conditions of the people from whom it derives its inspiration.
All that non-fiction can do is answer questions. It's fiction's business to ask them.
All that non-fiction can do is answer questions. It's fiction's business to ask them.
