It is enough for a poet to be the guilty conscience of his age.
Saint-John PerseRead
The poet existed among the cave men; he will exist among men of the atomic age, for he is an inherent part of man. Even religions have been born from the need for poetry, which is a spiritual need, and it is through the grace of poetry that the divine spark lives forever in the human flint.
More from Saint-John Perse
All quotes →Poetry allies itself with beauty - a supreme union - but never uses it as its ultimate goal or sole nourishment.
Saint-John PerseRead
In truth, every creation of the mind is first of all 'poetic' in the proper sense of the word; and inasmuch as there exists an equivalence between the modes of sensibility and intellect, it is the same function that is exercised initially in the enterprises of the poet and the scientist.
Saint-John PerseRead