It is difficult to write a paradiso when all the superficial indications are that you ought to write an apocalypse.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that creating beauty (paradiso) is challenging in a world that insists on focusing on negativity and destruction (apocalypse).
Ezra Pound's quote reflects the struggle of producing uplifting or beautiful work when faced with overwhelming negativity and societal pressures that advocate for darker themes. It highlights the tension between the desire to create something positive and the external influences that push one towards despair or apocalyptic narratives.
In practice
During a speech about artistic expression, one could use this quote to illustrate the challenges faced by artists.
The ant's a centaur in his dragon world. Pull down thy vanity, it is not man Made courage, or made order, or made grace, Pull down thy vanity, I say pull down. Learn of the green world what can be thy place In scaled invention or true artistry, Pull down thy vanity, Paquin pull down! The green casque has outdone your elegance.
I desired my dust to be mingled with yours Forever and forever and forever.
Literature does not exist in a vacuum. Writers as such have a definite social function exactly proportional to their ability as writers. This is their main use.
In our time, the curse is monetary illiteracy, just as inability to read plain print was the curse of earlier centuries.
The modern artist must live by craft and violence. His gods are violent gods. Those artists, so called, whose work does not show this strife, are uninteresting.
Fundamental accuracy of statement is the ONE sole morality of writing.
It is harder to preserve than to obtain liberty.
If you look at history you'll find that no state has been so plagued by its rulers as when power has fallen into the hands of some dabbler in philosophy or literary addict.
I look at the world and I see absurdity all around me. People do strange things constantly, to the point that, for the most part, we manage not to see it. That's why I love coffee shops and public places - I mean, they're all out there.
A thinking man feels compelled to approach all life with the same reverence he has for his own.
We . . . must try to live without causing unnecessary harm, not just to fellow humans but to all beings. We must try not to be stingy, or to exploit others. There will be enough pain in the world as it is.
For me Christ was not to be bought for thirty pieces of silver but with my heart's blood. We buy not cheap in this market.
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