What is the poem, after it is written? That is the question. Not where it came from or why.

Quote by Allen Tate

Topics: Allen Tate Quotes

For some reason most critics have a hard time fixing their minds directly under their...

For some reason most critics have a hard time fixing their minds directly under their...

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 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,...

The Spring I seek is in a new face only.

The Spring I seek is in a new face only.

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...

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...

The innocent mansion of a panther's heart!

The innocent mansion of a panther's heart!

Other psychological theories say a good deal about compensation.

Other psychological theories say a good deal about compensation.

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...

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...

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...

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...

Experience means conflict, our natures being what they are, and conflict means drama.

Experience means conflict, our natures being what they are, and conflict means drama.

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...

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...

According to its doctors, my one intransigent desire is to have been a Confederate general,...

According to its doctors, my one intransigent desire is to have been a Confederate general,...

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.

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

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

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

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