The charge frequently leveled against poetry - that it is difficult, obscure, hermetic and whatnot - indicates not the state of poetry but, frankly, the rung of the evolutionary ladder on which society is stuck.
Interpretation
The criticism of poetry reflects society's intellectual and cultural state rather than the nature of poetry itself.
In this quote, Joseph Brodsky suggests that the difficulty some people find in understanding poetry is not a flaw in poetry but a reflection of societal evolution. He implies that the level of comprehension and appreciation of art is indicative of the overall intellectual development of society, indicating that art can challenge and elevate collective thought.
In practice
During a lecture on the importance of art in society, one might reference this quote to provoke thought about our collective cultural evolution.
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.
It starts with the writer-it's a familiar dictum, but somehow it keeps getting forgotten along the way. No film-maker, irrespective of his electronic bag of tricks, can ever afford to forget his commitment to the written word.
I seated ugliness on my knee, and almost immediately grew tired of it.
Sometimes it's difficult directing yourself on film because you can't quite separate yourself from the subject.
I need to go where people are serious about acting.
I don't like to make strong statements. I want to write strong novels... I keep my deep, radical things for my novels.
It is a magic book. Words mean things. When you put them together they speak. Yes, sometimes they flatten out and nothing they say is real, and that is one kind of magic. But sometimes a vision will rip up from them and shriek and clank wings clear as the sweat smudge on the paper under your thumb. And that is another kind.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.