Before people complain of the obscurity of modern poetry, they should first examine their consciences and ask themselves with how many people and on how many occasions they have genuinely and profoundly shared some experience with another

Quote by W H Auden

Topics: Experience Quotes, Poetry Quotes

The countenances of children, like those of animals, are masks, not faces, for they have...

The countenances of children, like those of animals, are masks, not faces, for they have...

It's frightening how easy it is to commit murder in America. Just a drink too...

It's frightening how easy it is to commit murder in America. Just a drink too...

Even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot...

Even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot...

When I am in the company of scientists, I feel like a shabby curate who...

When I am in the company of scientists, I feel like a shabby curate who...

All works of art are commissioned in the sense that no artist can create one...

All works of art are commissioned in the sense that no artist can create one...

Choice of attention - to pay attention to this and ignore that - is to...

Choice of attention - to pay attention to this and ignore that - is to...

The words of a dead man are modified in the guts of the living.

The words of a dead man are modified in the guts of the living.

In a world of prayer, we are all equal in the sense that each of...

In a world of prayer, we are all equal in the sense that each of...

Literary confessors are contemptible, like beggars who exhibit their sores for money, but not so...

Literary confessors are contemptible, like beggars who exhibit their sores for money, but not so...

A verbal art like poetry is reflective; it stops to think. Music is immediate, it...

A verbal art like poetry is reflective; it stops to think. Music is immediate, it...

In relation to a writer, most readers believe in the Double Standard: they may be...

In relation to a writer, most readers believe in the Double Standard: they may be...

Geniuses are the luckiest of mortals because what they must do is the same as...

Geniuses are the luckiest of mortals because what they must do is the same as...

A professor is someone who talks in someone else's sleep.

A professor is someone who talks in someone else's sleep.

Murder is commoner among cooks than among members of any other profession

Murder is commoner among cooks than among members of any other profession

Perhaps there is only one cardinal sin: impatience. Because of impatience we were driven out...

Perhaps there is only one cardinal sin: impatience. Because of impatience we were driven out...

A tremendous number of people in America work very hard at something that bores them....

A tremendous number of people in America work very hard at something that bores them....

Art is our chief means of breaking bread with the dead.

Art is our chief means of breaking bread with the dead.

If equal affection cannot be, let the more loving be me.

If equal affection cannot be, let the more loving be me.

The center that I cannot find is known to my unconscious mind.

The center that I cannot find is known to my unconscious mind.

Fame often makes a writer vain, but seldom makes him proud.

Fame often makes a writer vain, but seldom makes him proud.