It is difficult to write a paradiso when all the superficial indications are that you ought to write an apocalypse.
Ezra PoundRead
A great age of literature is perhaps always a great age of translations.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The peak of literary achievement often coincides with the flourishing of translations.
Ezra Pound suggests that an era marked by significant literary works is likely to be accompanied by an increase in translations, allowing diverse cultures and ideas to be shared and appreciated. Translations play a crucial role in spreading literary excellence beyond linguistic barriers, enriching the world with various perspectives and styles, thus contributing to the overall greatness of a literary age.
Themes
LiteratureTranslationsCultureAchievementCommunication
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of literature in schools, this quote could highlight the value of translations in enriching students' understanding.
More from Ezra Pound
All quotes →The ant's a centaur in his dragon world. Pull down thy vanity, it is not man Made courage, or made order, or made grace, Pull down thy vanity, I say pull down. Learn of the green world what can be thy place In scaled invention or true artistry, Pull down thy vanity, Paquin pull down! The green casque has outdone your elegance.
Ezra PoundRead
I desired my dust to be mingled with yours Forever and forever and forever.
Ezra PoundRead
Literature does not exist in a vacuum. Writers as such have a definite social function exactly proportional to their ability as writers. This is their main use.
Ezra PoundRead
In our time, the curse is monetary illiteracy, just as inability to read plain print was the curse of earlier centuries.
Ezra PoundRead
The modern artist must live by craft and violence. His gods are violent gods. Those artists, so called, whose work does not show this strife, are uninteresting.
Ezra PoundRead
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The end of a story must be stronger rather than weaker than the beginning, since it is the end which contains the denouement or culmination and which will leave the strongest impression upon the reader.
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A report of a most alarming nature reached me two days ago.
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He's a great writer. If I didn't think so I wouldn't have tried to kill him... I was the champ and when I read his stuff I knew he had something. So I dropped a heavy glass skylight on his head at a drinking party. But you can't kill the guy. He's not human.
Ernest HemingwayRead