After the last line of a poem, nothing follows except literary criticism.
Interpretation
Literary criticism often overshadows the emotional and artistic essence of poetry.
Joseph Brodsky's quote reflects on the idea that once a poem concludes, the subsequent discussions and analyses often focus on critiquing the work rather than appreciating its artistic beauty and emotional impact. This suggests that the act of interpretation can sometimes detract from the original experience of the piece, highlighting a tension between artistry and academic criticism.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of art, one might use this quote to emphasize the need for pure appreciation rather than analysis.
Basically, it's hard for me to assess myself, a hardship not only prompted by the immodesty of the enterprise, but because one is not capable of assessing himself, let alone his work. However, if I were to summarize, my main interest is the nature of time. That's what interests me most of all. What time can do to a man.
One always pulls the trigger out of self-interest and quotes history to avoid responsibility or pangs of conscience.
On the whole, infinity is a fairly palpable aspect of this business of publishing, if only because it extends a dead author's existence beyond the limits he envisioned, or provides a living author with a future he cannot measure. In other words, this business deals with the future which we all prefer to regard as unending.
The invention of ethical and political doctrines, which blossomed into our own social sciences, is a product of times when things appeared manageable. The same goes for the criticism of those doctrines, though as a voice from the past, this criticism proved prophetic.
Try not to pay attention to those who will try to make life miserable for you. There will be a lot of those - in the official capacity as well as the self-appointed.
To put it in plain language, Russia is that country where the name of a writer appears not on the cover of his book, but on the door of his prison cell.
An actress can only play a woman. I'm an actor, I can play anything.
To deny women directors, as I suspect is happening in the States, is to deny the feminine vision.
No art is less spontaneous than mine. What I do is the result of reflection and the study of the great masters.
Black artists are encouraged to explore their identity but are then pigeonholed according to their ethnicity. We may have seen the decline of old racism, but we are witnessing a new kind of racialising.
Colour is what gives jewels their worth. They light up and enhance the face. Nothing is more elegant than a black skirt and sweater worn with a sparkling multi-stoned necklace.
I could hardly sit through 'Frozen.' There was an attempt to craft a moral message and to build the story around that, instead of building the story and letting the moral message emerge. It was the subjugation of art to propaganda, in my estimation.
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