There is no feeling, except the extremes of fear and grief, that does not find relief in music.
T. S. EliotRead
Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the evolution of creativity among poets, emphasizing that true artistry involves transformation rather than mere imitation.
T.S. Eliot's quote reflects on the nature of creativity in poetry, suggesting that while immature poets simply copy the works of others, more mature poets are able to incorporate existing ideas, transforming them into something unique. It implies that true artistry lies in the ability to take inspiration from other works and create something that transcends the original, rather than merely defacing or diluting it. A good poet elevates the existing art into a new, more profound expression, showcasing the difference between imitation and innovation.
Themes
PoetryCreativityImitationArtistryTransformation
In practice
Example use cases
During a lecture on creative writing, one might reference this quote to highlight the importance of developing one's own voice.
More from T. S. Eliot
All quotes βHalf of the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm. But the harm does not interest them.
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I am an Anglo-Catholic in religion, a classicist in literature and a royalist in politics.
T. S. EliotRead
If you aren't in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?
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For I have known them all already, known them allβ Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons, I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.
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In the faint moonlight, the grass is singing
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Similar quotes
The only way you can write the truth is to assume that what you set down will never be read. Not by any other person, and not even by yourself at some later date. Otherwise you begin excusing yourself. You must see the writing as emerging like a long scroll of ink from the index finger of your right hand; you must see your left hand erasing it.
Margaret AtwoodRead
From my earliest years I had always wanted to be a writer. It was not that I had any particular message for humanity. I am still plugging away and not the ghost of one so far, so it begins to look as though, unless I suddenly hit mid-season form in my eighties, humanity will remain a message short.
P. G. WodehouseRead
I am imbued with the notion that a Muse is necessarily a dead woman, inaccessible or absent; that a poetic structure - like the canon, which is only a hole surrounded by steel - can be based only on what one does not have; and that ultimately one can write only to fill a void or at the least to situate, in relation to the most lucid part of ourselves, the place where this incommensurable abyss yawns within us.
Michel LeirisRead
I listen to everything - from Sarah McLachlan and Alanis Morissette all the way down to rap like Scarface, UGK and Lauryn Hill.
Jay-ZRead
In my writing, I want to be laid bare as a human being.
Denis JohnsonRead
In the best of all possible worlds, directors would obsess about the quality of their storytelling, and not the details of their technical methods.
Roger EbertRead