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This novel is not to be tossed lightly aside, but hurled with great force.
This novel is not to be tossed lightly aside, but hurled with great force.
We read poetry because the poets, like ourselves, have been haunted by the inescapable tyranny of time and death; have read more
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.
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.
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.
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.
Every man's memory is his private literature.
Every man's memory is his private literature.
Literature is news that stays news.
Literature is news that stays news.
Of course there's a lot of knowledge in universities: the freshmen bring a little in; the seniors don't take much read more
Of course there's a lot of knowledge in universities: the freshmen bring a little in; the seniors don't take much away, so knowledge sort of accumulates...
A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say.
A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say.