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 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.
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.
A novel is never anything but a philosophy put into images.
A novel is never anything but a philosophy put into images.
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.
A great literature is chiefly the product of inquiring minds in revolt against the immovable certainties of the nation.
A great literature is chiefly the product of inquiring minds in revolt against the immovable certainties of the nation.
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.
We cultivate literature on a little oat-meal.
We cultivate literature on a little oat-meal.
A university is what a college becomes when the faculty loses interest in students.
A university is what a college becomes when the faculty loses interest in students.
