Death is the sound of distant thunder at a picnic.
W. H. AudenRead
I used to try and concentrate the poem so much that there wasn't a word that wasn't essential. This leads to becoming boring and constipated.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of balance in poetry, warning against over-editing and losing vitality.
W. H. Auden suggests that in the pursuit of perfection in poetry, one may become overly rigid and eliminate all but the most essential words. This leads to a loss of spontaneity and creativity, making the poem dull rather than vibrant. The quote serves as a reminder that art should retain a sense of life and fluidity rather than succumbing to an obsession with paring down to the essentials.
Themes
PoetryCreativityBalanceExpressionArt
In practice
Example use cases
In a workshop about creative writing, one might reference this quote to encourage writers to embrace their instincts.
More from W. H. Auden
All quotes βThat the speech of self-disclosure should be translatable seems to me very odd, but I am convinced that it is. The conclusion that I draw is that the only quality which all human being without exception possess is uniqueness: any characteristic, on the other hand, which one individual can be recognized as having in common with another, like red hair or the English language, implies the existence of other individual qualities which this classification excludes.
W. H. AudenRead
Nobody knows what the cause is, though some pretend they do; it like some hidden assassin waiting to strike at you. Childless women get it, and men when they retire; it as if there had to be some outlet for their foiled creative fire.
W. H. AudenRead
History is, strictly speaking, the study of questions; the study of answers belongs to anthropology and sociology.
W. H. AudenRead
Music is the best means we have of digesting time.
W. H. AudenRead
'Healing,' Papa would tell me, 'is not a science, but the intuitive art of wooing nature.'
W. H. AudenRead
Similar quotes
There's so many films from around the world, I emphasize, that are so beautifully photographed, but they don't get the recognition.
Roger DeakinsRead
Poetry confronts in the most clear-eyed way just those emotions which consciousness wishes to slide by.
C. K. WilliamsRead
To get even realer with you for a second, as a black actor, as a performer of color, I don't know how many more roles like Aaron Burr are gonna come along for me.
Leslie Odom, Jr.Read
No one is an artist unless he carries his picture in his head before painting it, and is sure of his method and composition.
Claude MonetRead
Not every song I write is ecstasy. And it can happen only one time. After that, when you sing the same melody and words, it's pleasure, but you don't get wiped out.
Paul SimonRead
A picture lives by companionship, expanding and quickening in the eyes of the sensitive observer. It dies by the same token. It is therefore risky to send it out into the world. How often it must be impaired by the eyes of the unfeeling and the cruelty of the impotent.
Mark RothkoRead