The rules or 'laws' of poetry are only tentative devices, an approximate scheme. There is no Sinaitic recipe for poetry, for the individual poem is the norm.
Louis MacneiceRead
All experiment is made on a basis of tradition; all tradition is the crystallization of experiment.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Tradition and experimentation are interdependent; traditions evolve from previous experiments.
This quote highlights the cyclical relationship between tradition and experimentation. It suggests that all traditions are formed through past experiments, which in turn provide the foundation for future experiments. In essence, our current understanding and practices are shaped by both our historical attempts to innovate and the lasting influence of those innovations on subsequent generations.
Themes
TraditionExperimentKnowledgeHistoryInnovation
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of cultural heritage, one might use this quote to emphasize how traditions shape our current practices.
More from Louis Macneice
All quotes →I am not yet born; O fill me with strength against those who would freeze my humanity.
Louis MacneiceRead
Everyone is not able, or inclined, to write poetry in the narrower sense any more than everyone is qualified to take part in a walking race. But just as all of us can and do walk, so all of us can and do use language poetically.
Louis MacneiceRead
I am not yet born; Forgive me For the sins that in me the world shall commit, my words When they speak me, my thoughts when they think me, My treason engendered by traitors beyound me, My life when they murder by means of my hands, my death when they live me.
Louis MacneiceRead
All that I would like to be is human, having a share_x000D_ in a civilized, articulate and well-adjusted_x000D_ community where the mind is given its due_x000D_ but the body is not distrusted
Louis MacneiceRead
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