William Plomer Quotes
William Plomer delivers witty, literary musings that weave history and poetry, perfect for fans of clever wordplay.
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The commonplace needs no defence, Dullness is in the critic's eyes, Without a licence life evolves From some dim phase its own surprise; Under these yellow-twinkling elms, Behind these hedges trimly shorn, As in a stable once, so here It may be born, it may be born.
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A family portrait not too stale to record Of a pleasant old buffer, nephew to a lord, Who believed that the bank was mightier than the sword, And that an umbrella might pacify barbarians abroad: Just like an old liberal Between the wars.
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Oh, the twenties and the thirties were not otherwise designed Than other times when blind men into ditches led the blind, When the rich mouse ate the cheese and the poor mouse got the rind, And man, the self-destroyer, was not lucid in his mind.
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When her guests were awash with champagne and with gin She was recklessly sober, as sharp as a pin: An abstemious man would reel at her look As she rolled a bright eye and praised his last book.
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Brzeska and Brooke were among those she knew And she lived long enough to meet Lawrences, too, D. H. and T. E. - she who'd known R. L. S., Talked to Hardy of Kim, and to Kipling of Tess!
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His most celebrated poems are, of course, the historical-satirical ballads (A or even X certificate) in which a person or period is 'hit off', in the sense both of being preserved and hit for six.
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His poetry may be divided into comic extravaganza on the one hand, and more personal work on the other. There is no one like him in the world in the former genre; as a 'light poet' he is preferable to John Betjeman - as fluent in traditional forms, his work is never vitiated by refuge in the poetical or high sentimental, and his choice of words is subtler, funnier and altogether sharper. In his other vein Plomer is fastidious, reticent, elegant and the author of some memorable and moving lines.
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It is a function of creative men to perceive the relations between thoughts, or things, or forms of expression that may seem utterly different, and to be able to combine them into some new form. Britten's Nocturne, for example, which unifies musically a group of poems by different hands, is a notable example of his power to connect the seemingly unconnected.
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Creativity is the power to connect the seemingly unconnected.
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To keep a diary is to attempt a difficult literary form. Its effectiveness is likely to derive from a special blend of honesty and appetite for life that gives the power to record everyday happenings while magically freeing them from banality and triviality.
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It is the function of creative man to perceive and to connect the seemingly unconnected.
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Patriotism is the last refuge of the sculptor.
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“It is the function of creative people to perceive relations between thoughts, or things, or forms of expressions that seem utterly different, and to be able to Connect the seemingly Unconnected".”