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
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Design is inherently optimistic. That is its power.
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Having books published is very destructive to writing. It is even worse than making love too much. Because when you make love too much at least you get a damned clarte that is like no other light. A very clear and hollow light.
Ernest HemingwayRead
Even when I'm writing plays I enjoy having company and mentally I think of that company as the company I'm writing for.
Wole SoyinkaRead
Every poem breaks a silence that had to be overcome.
Adrienne RichRead
There's this existential argument that comes in, at some point, when you're over-thinking the songwriting process. There's no guarantee that the more time you spend or the more you concentrate on certain aspects that that's going to produce a better result, especially in the arts.
Chris CornellRead
Once something is memorable, it's living and you're using it. That to me is the foundation of a creative society.
Yo-Yo MaRead