Literature is the most noble of professions. In fact, it is about the only one fit for a man.
Interpretation
Literature elevates the human experience and is a profound pursuit.
In this quote, Edgar Allan Poe emphasizes the nobility of literature as a profession, suggesting that it is the highest calling for humankind. He implies that engaging with literature allows for deep reflection, creativity, and a unique contribution to society, positioning authors and writers as essential figures in human culture.
In practice
In a speech at a literary festival to celebrate the power of storytelling.
But evil things, in robes of sorrow, Assailed the monarch's high estate; (Ah, let us mourn, for never morrow Shall dawn upon him desolate!) And round about his home the glory That blushed and bloomed, Is but a dim-remembered story Of the old time entombed.
Most writers - poets in especial - prefer having it understood that they compose by a species of fine frenzy - an ecstatic intuition - and would positively shudder at letting the public take a peep behind the scenes.
...the agony of my soul found vent in one loud, long and final scream of despair.
Where the good and the bad and the worst and the best have gone to their eternal rest.
I could have clasped the red walls to my bosom as a garment of eternal peace. "Death," I said, "any death but that of the pit!" Fool! might I have not known that into the pit it was the object of the burning iron to urge me?
In our endeavors to recall to memory something long forgotten, we often find ourselves upon the very verge of remembrance, without being able, in the end, to remember.
I don't really understand why so many fantasy writers choose to focus on worlds that just seem strangely denuded. But to them, I guess it doesn't seem strange. And I guess that's their privilege. It isn't mine.
Fashion is in the sky, the streets, fashion has to do with ideas, the way in which we live, the events surrounding us.
I do most of the cooking in my head.
A writer needs a pen, an artist needs a brush, but a filmmaker needs an army.
We usually evaluate creative process in terms of how much feeling or thinking was behind the work or how well the work was done. Isn't there any other way of appreciating the process? What if the standard of excellence was how fully present the artist was during the process?
People are going to say, ‘Well, it’s not very truthful.’ But a songwriter doesn’t care about what’s truthful. What he cares about is what should’ve happened, what could’ve happened. That’s its own kind of truth. It’s like people who read Shakespeare plays, but they never see a Shakespeare play. I think they just use his name.
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