If a poet interprets a poem of his own he limits its suggestibility.
William Butler YeatsRead
Art bids us touch and taste and hear and see the world, and shrinks from what Blake calls mathematic form, from every abstract form, from all that is of the brain only.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Art connects us to the world through sensory experiences rather than abstract reasoning.
William Butler Yeats emphasizes the importance of sensory engagement in art, asserting that it invites us to explore and experience the world in a deeper, more profound way. He contrasts this with the limitations of purely intellectual or abstract forms, suggesting that true art allows us to immerse ourselves in the richness of life's sensations rather than just contemplating it through a detached, rational lens.
Themes
ArtSensesExperienceEmotionPerception
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be shared in a discussion about the role of art in education.
More from William Butler Yeats
All quotes →It was my first meeting with a philosophy that confirmed my vague speculations and seemed at once logical and boundless.
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But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
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How far away the stars seem, and how far is our first kiss, and ah, how old my heart.
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For he would be thinking of love Till the stars had run away And the shadows eaten the moon.
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Love is created and preserved by intellectual analysis, for we love only that which is unique, and it belongs to contemplation, not to action, for we would not change that which we love.
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