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 image of myself which I try to create in my own mind in order...

The image of myself which I try to create in my own mind in order...

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...

All that we are not stares back at what we are.

All that we are not stares back at what we are.

For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?

For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?

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...

Some books are undeservedly forgotten; none are undeservedly remembered.

Some books are undeservedly forgotten; none are undeservedly remembered.

Health is the state about which medicine has nothing to say.

Health is the state about which medicine has nothing to say.

A poet is a professional maker of verbal objects.

A poet is a professional maker of verbal objects.

No poet or novelist wishes he were the only one who ever lived, but most...

No poet or novelist wishes he were the only one who ever lived, but most...

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...

Thousands have lived without love, not one without water.

Thousands have lived without love, not one without water.

Every American poet feels that the whole responsibility for contemporary poetry has fallen upon his...

Every American poet feels that the whole responsibility for contemporary poetry has fallen upon his...

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

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

We must love one another or die.

We must love one another or die.

The image of myself which I try to create in my own mind in order...

The image of myself which I try to create in my own mind in order...

One cannot walk through an assembly factory and not feel that one is in Hell.

One cannot walk through an assembly factory and not feel that one is in Hell.

Let mortals beware of words For with words we lie Can speak peace When we...

Let mortals beware of words For with words we lie Can speak peace When we...

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...

Art is born of humiliation.

Art is born of humiliation.

God bless the USA, so large, so friendly, and so rich.

God bless the USA, so large, so friendly, and so rich.