It is difficult to write a paradiso when all the superficial indications are that you ought to write an apocalypse.
Ezra PoundRead
Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Great literature conveys deep meaning through its language.
Ezra Pound's quote emphasizes that the essence of great literature lies in its ability to imbue language with intense and profound meanings. He suggests that the true power of literary works is found in how effectively they convey emotions, themes, and ideas, making the reader engage with the text at a deeper level.
Themes
LiteratureLanguageMeaningDepthExpression
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the importance of reading, one could quote Pound to illustrate how literature transcends everyday language.
More from Ezra Pound
All quotes βThe 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
Similar quotes
Bad art is a great deal worse than no art at all.
Oscar WildeRead
I'm either going to be a writer or a bum.
Carl SandburgRead
When I first heard music, I thought it should be very clean, very precise. Something that people could understand, something that was beautiful.
Charlie ParkerRead
It's taken me other places, but it was the impulse to write that led me to singing. I'm not a musician. I never thought of performing in a rock n' roll band. I was just drawn in. It was like being called to duty - I was called to duty, and I did my duty as best as I could.
Patti SmithRead
Art is much less important than life, but what a poor life without it.
Robert MotherwellRead
I was interested in ideas, not merely visual products. I wanted to put painting once again at the service of the mind.
Marcel DuchampRead