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The poet is one who is able to keep the fresh vision of the child alive.
Anais Nin
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Interpretation

What this quote means

The poet maintains a childlike perspective that sees beauty and wonder in the world.

Anais Nin suggests that true poets possess the unique ability to perceive the world with the innocence and freshness characteristic of a child. This perspective allows them to capture the beauty and complexity of life in their work, making their art not only relatable but also deeply resonant with shared human experiences.

Themes

PoetChildVisionArtInnocence

In practice

Example use cases

In a poetry reading, you could emphasize how poets see the world through a child's eyes, as articulated by Anais Nin.

More from Anais Nin

Anxiety is love's greatest killer, because it is like the stranglehold of the drowning.
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We celebrate peace. Yet we pay no attention to the ways of curing aggression in human beings. And when one sees in psychoanalysis hostility disappearing as people conquer their fears, one wonders if the cure is not there.
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The impetus to grow and live intensely is so powerful in me I cannot resist it. I will work, I will love my husband, but I will fulfill myself.
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We have been poisoned by fairy tales.
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But I lie. I embellish. My words are not deep enough. They disguise, they conceal. I will not rest until I have told of my descent into a sensuality which was as dark, as magnificent, as wild, as my moments of mystic creation have been dazzling, ecstatic, exalted.
Anais NinRead
I gathered poets around me and we all wrote beautiful erotica. As we were condemned to focus only on sensuality, we had violent explosions of poetry. Writing erotica became a road to sainthood rather than to debauchery.
Anais NinRead

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