Poetry Is Not Only The

In America, A Metrical Poem Is Likely To Conjure Up The Idea Of The Sort Of Poet Who Wears Ties And Lunches At The Faculty Club. In Russia It Suggests The Moral Force Of An Art Practiced Against The Greatest Personal Odds, As A Discipline, Solitary And Intense.

Were We To Choose Our Leaders On The Basis Of Their Reading Experience And Not Their Political Programs, There Would Be Much Less Grief On Earth. I Believe ... That For Someone Who Has Read A Lot Of Dickens To Shoot His Like In The Name Of An Idea Is Harder Than For Someone Who Has Read No Dickens.

For A Writer Only One Form Of Patriotism Exists: His Attitude Toward Language.

As A Form Of Moral Insurance, At Least, Literature Is Much More Dependable Than A System Of Beliefs Or A Philosophical Doctrine. Since There Are No Laws That Can Protect Us From Ourselves, No Criminal Code Is Capable Of Preventing A True Crime Against Literature; Though We Can Condemn The Material Suppression Of Literature - The Persecution Of Writers, Acts Of Censorship, The Burning Of Books - We Are Powerless When It Comes To Its Worst Violation: That Of Not Reading The Books. For That Crime, A Person Pays With His Whole Life; If The Offender Is A Nation, It Pays With Its History.

For The Poet The Credo Or Doctrine Is Not The Point Of Arrival But Is, On The Contrary, The Point Of Departure For The Metaphysical Journey.