Just as a new scientific discovery manifests something that was already latent in the order of nature, and at the same time is logically related to the total structure of the existing science, so the new poem manifests something that was already latent in the order of words.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that new poems reveal ideas that already exist in language, much like scientific discoveries unveil hidden truths in nature.
Northrop Frye's quote draws an analogy between the emergence of new scientific discoveries and the creation of new poetry. He implies that just as science uncovers latent truths within the natural world, poetry unveils deeper meanings that were always present within language itself. Both phenomena are interconnected with existing frameworks, reinforcing the idea that innovation is often rooted in prior knowledge and structure.
In practice
This quote could be used in a discussion about the creative process in poetry during a literature class.
A reader who quarrels with postulates, who dislikes Hamlet because he does not believe that there are ghosts or that people speak in pentameters, clearly has no business in literature. He cannot distinguish fiction from fact, and belongs in the same category as the people who send checks to radio stations for the relief of suffering heroines in soap operas.
The Bible is not interested in arguing, because if you state a thesis of belief you have already stated it's opposite; if you say, I believe in God, you have already suggested the possibility of not believing in him. [p.250]
Literature is a human apocalypse, man's revelation to man, and criticism is not a body of adjudications, but the awareness of that revelation, the last judgement of mankind.
To bring anything really to life in literature we can't be lifelike: we have to be literature-like
The world of literature is a world where there is no reality except that of the human imagination.
We do not live in a centred space any more, but have to create our own centres.
For me, playwriting is and has always been like making a chair. Your concerns are balance, form, timing, lights, space, music. If you don't have these essentials, you might as well be writing a theoretical essay, not a play.
Like books and black lives - albums still matter. Tonight and always.
Coffee falls into the stomach... ideas begin to move, things remembered arrive at full gallop... the shafts of wit start up like sharp-shooters, similes arise, the paper is covered with ink...
Write because you love the art and the discipline, not because you're looking to sell something.
Creativity is the result of a struggle between vitality and form. As anyone who has tried to write a sonnet or scan poetry, is aware, the form ideally do not take away from the creativity but may add to it.
I don't think there will ever be a time I don't write, and I hope there will never be a time I don't act.
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