Every American poet feels that the whole responsibility for contemporary poetry has fallen upon his shoulders, that he is a literary aristocracy of one.

Quote by W H Auden

Topics: W H Auden Quotes

Murder is unique in that it abolishes the party it injures, so that society has...

Murder is unique in that it abolishes the party it injures, so that society has...

Men make the mistake of thinking that because women can't see the sense in violence,...

Men make the mistake of thinking that because women can't see the sense in violence,...

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...

It takes little talent to see what lies under one's nose, a good deal to...

It takes little talent to see what lies under one's nose, a good deal to...

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...

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

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

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

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

Some books are undeservedly forgotten; none are undeservedly remembered.

Some books are undeservedly forgotten; none are undeservedly remembered.

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...

He was my North, my South, my East and West.

He was my North, my South, my East and West.

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....

We are not commanded (or forbidden) to love our mates, our children, our friends, our...

We are not commanded (or forbidden) to love our mates, our children, our friends, our...

What the mass media offers is not popular art, but entertainment which is intended to...

What the mass media offers is not popular art, but entertainment which is intended to...

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

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

It is a sad fact about our culture that a poet can earn much more...

It is a sad fact about our culture that a poet can earn much more...

Evil is unspectacular and always human, and shares our bed and eats at our own...

Evil is unspectacular and always human, and shares our bed and eats at our own...

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...

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

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

For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?

For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?

Thousands have lived without love, not one without water.

Thousands have lived without love, not one without water.