It is difficult to write a paradiso when all the superficial indications are that you ought to write an apocalypse.
Ezra PoundRead
Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Great literature conveys deep meaning through its language.
Ezra Pound's quote emphasizes that the essence of great literature lies in its ability to imbue language with intense and profound meanings. He suggests that the true power of literary works is found in how effectively they convey emotions, themes, and ideas, making the reader engage with the text at a deeper level.
Themes
LiteratureLanguageMeaningDepthExpression
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the importance of reading, one could quote Pound to illustrate how literature transcends everyday language.
More from Ezra Pound
All quotes βThe 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.
Ezra PoundRead
I desired my dust to be mingled with yours Forever and forever and forever.
Ezra PoundRead
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.
Ezra PoundRead
In our time, the curse is monetary illiteracy, just as inability to read plain print was the curse of earlier centuries.
Ezra PoundRead
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.
Ezra PoundRead
Similar quotes
After all, the goal is not making art. It is living a life. Those who live their lives will leave the stuff that is really art.
Robert HenriRead
Theatre is liberating because it only works if it's truthful, That's what it requires. That's not true of film: the camera does lie.
Helen MccroryRead
Only truthful hands write true poems. I cannot see any basic difference between a handshake and a poem.
Paul CelanRead
The lighter the skin, the more acceptable you are. The darker the skin, the more marginalised you become. I want to demonstrate that you can produce beauty in the context of a figure that has that kind of velvety blackness. It can be done.
Kerry James MarshallRead
In improvisation, there are no mistakes.
Miles DavisRead
One wants one's work to be the world, but of course it's never the world. The work is in the world; it never contains the whole thing.
Jasper JohnsRead