According to its doctors, my one intransigent desire is to have been a Confederate general, and because I could not or would not become anything else, I set up for poet and beg an to invent fictions about the personal…

Quote by Allen Tate

Topics: Allen Tate Quotes

Dramatic experience is not logical; it may be subdued to the kind of coherence that...

Dramatic experience is not logical; it may be subdued to the kind of coherence that...

I am not ridiculing verbal mechanisms, dreams, or repressions as origins of poetry; all three...

I am not ridiculing verbal mechanisms, dreams, or repressions as origins of poetry; all three...

Men expect too much, do too little.

Men expect too much, do too little.

We know the particular poem, not what it says that we can restate.

We know the particular poem, not what it says that we can restate.

The innocent mansion of a panther's heart!

The innocent mansion of a panther's heart!

The Spring I seek is in a new face only.

The Spring I seek is in a new face only.

Religion is the sole technique for the validating of values.

Religion is the sole technique for the validating of values.

Poets, in their way, are practical men; they are interested in results.

Poets, in their way, are practical men; they are interested in results.

Serious poetry deals with the fundamental conflicts that cannot be logically resolved: we can state...

Serious poetry deals with the fundamental conflicts that cannot be logically resolved: we can state...

In a manner of speaking, the poem is its own knower, neither poet nor reader...

In a manner of speaking, the poem is its own knower, neither poet nor reader...

Narcissism and the Confederate dead cannot be connected logically, or even historically; even were the...

Narcissism and the Confederate dead cannot be connected logically, or even historically; even were the...

At twelve I was determined to shoot only For honor; at twenty not to shoot...

At twelve I was determined to shoot only For honor; at twenty not to shoot...

But in our age the appeal to authority is weak, and I am of my...

But in our age the appeal to authority is weak, and I am of my...

The only real evidence that any critic may bring before his gaze is the finished...

The only real evidence that any critic may bring before his gaze is the finished...

Genetic theories, I gather, have been cherished academically with detachment.

Genetic theories, I gather, have been cherished academically with detachment.

How does one happen to write a poem: where does it come from? That is...

How does one happen to write a poem: where does it come from? That is...

There is probably nothing wrong with art for art's sake if we take the phrase...

There is probably nothing wrong with art for art's sake if we take the phrase...

What is the poem, after it is written? That is the question. Not where it...

What is the poem, after it is written? That is the question. Not where it...

I believe the term modulation denotes in music the uninterrupted shift from one key to...

I believe the term modulation denotes in music the uninterrupted shift from one key to...

A poem may be an instance of morality, of social conditions, of psychological history; it...

A poem may be an instance of morality, of social conditions, of psychological history; it...