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

Men expect too much, do too little.

Men expect too much, do too little.

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...

The mission for the day is to encourage students to think beyond traditional career opportunities,...

The mission for the day is to encourage students to think beyond traditional career opportunities,...

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...

Religion is the sole technique for the validating of values.

Religion is the sole technique for the validating of values.

The innocent mansion of a panther's heart!

The innocent mansion of a panther's heart!

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...

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.

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...

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...

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...

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...

So the poet, who wants to be something that he cannot be, and is a...

So the poet, who wants to be something that he cannot be, and is a...

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...

Other psychological theories say a good deal about compensation.

Other psychological theories say a good deal about compensation.

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...

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...

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

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

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...

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...