It naturally follows that the creature you love next best is the person - the God-lover or God-hater (almost never, apparently, anything in between), the saint or profligate, moralist or complete immoralist - who can write a poem that is a poem.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- The person you love next best is someone who can write a genuine poem, regardless of their moral character.
- In plain terms
- Great poets are loved regardless of morality.
- What can you take from it?
- Authentic art transcends moral judgment.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What makes a poem real?
- How do we value artists?
Another view
Artistic skill doesn't always correlate with worth.
More from J. D. Salinger
The hallmark, then, of the advanced religious, nonsectarian or any other (and I graciously include in the definition of an 'advanced religious,' odious though …
Permalink to quote #39 Extremes, though, are always risky and ordinarily downright baneful, and the dangers of prolonged contact with any poetry that seems to exceed what we most fam…
Permalink to quote #41 But where does by far the bulk, the whole ambulance load, of pain really come from? Where must it come from? Isn't the true poet or painter a seer? Isn't he, a…
Permalink to quote #38
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