The Art Of One Period

It Is Not Possible, For A Poet, Writing In Any Language, To Protect Himself From The Tragic Elements In Human Life.... [ellipsis In Source] Illness, Old Age, And Death--subjects As Ancient As Humanity--these Are The Subjects That The Poet Must Speak Of Very Nearly From The First Moment That He Begins To Speak.

No More Pronouncements On Lousy Verse. No More Hidden Competition. No More Struggling Not To Be A Square.

All Art, In Spite Of The Struggles Of Some Critics To Prove Otherwise, Is Based On Emotion And Projects Emotion.

I Don't Like Quintessential Certitude.

Intellectuals Range Through The Finest Gradations Of Kind And Quality: From Those Who Are Merely Educated Neurotics, Usually With Strong Hidden Reactionary Tendencies, Through Mediocrities Of All Kinds, To Men Of Real Brains And Sensibility, More Or Less Stiffened Into Various Respectabilities Or Substitutes For Respectability. The Number Of Ignorant Specialists Is Large. The Number Of Hysterics And Compulsives Is Also Large.