With poets, the choice of words is invariably more telling than the story line; that's why the best of them dread the thought of their biographies being written.
Interpretation
The choice of words in poetry conveys deeper truths than the narrative itself, making poets apprehensive about their life stories being revealed.
This quote by Joseph Brodsky suggests that poets prioritize the power and impact of their language over the stories they tell. The careful selection of words in poetry often reveals profound truths and emotions, which may not be adequately represented in a straightforward narrative of their lives. Poets may fear that the complexities and nuances of their work could be diminished or misunderstood if reduced to a biographical account.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discussion about the intricacies of poetic expression and how it differs from prose.
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.
The last song was so deep and raw and pure that I could not escape. It was as if the people were singing in between the notes, weeping and joyful at the same time, and I felt like their voices or something was rocking me in its bosom, holding me like a scared kid, and I opened up to that feeling-and it washed over me.
What does one prefer? An art that struggles to change the social contract, but fails? Or one that seeks to please and amuse, and succeeds?
If you get hold of a head of hair on somebody you've never seen before, cut beautiful shapes, cut beautiful architectural angles and she walks out looking so different - I think that's masterful.
If you're performing music that is not who you are or where you're at, it is painful. It's painful for the performer and for the audience.
When the work takes over, then the artist is enabled to get out of the way, not to interfere. When the work takes over, then the artist listens.
By writing I can live in ways that I could not survive.
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