More from Wystan Hugh Auden

  1. Some books are undeservedly forgotten; none are undeservedly remembered.
  2. At first critics classified authors as Ancients, that is to say, Greek and Latin authors, and Moderns, that is to say, every post-Classical…
  3. In general, when reading a scholarly critic, one profits more from his quotations than from his comments.
  4. No poet or novelist wishes he were the only one who ever lived, but most of them wish they were the only one alive, and quite a number fond…
  5. The surest sign that a man has a genuine taste of his own is that he is uncertain of it.
  6. In the course of many centuries a few laborsaving devices have been introduced into the mental kitchen - alcohol, coffee, tobacco, Benzedri…
  7. Before people complain of the obscurity of modern poetry, they should first examine their consciences and ask themselves with how many peop…
  8. The poet who writes 'free' verse is like Robinson Crusoe on his desert island: he must do all his cooking, laundry and darning for himself.…

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