“It is worthwhile adding that the power of the poem to teach not only sensibilities and the subtle movements of the spirit but knowledge, real lasting felt knowledge, is going mostly unnoticed among our scholars. The body of knowledge locked into and releasable from poetry can replace practically any university in the Republic. First things first, then: the primal importance of a poem is what it can add to the individual mind.Poetry is the voice of a poet at its birth, and the voice of a people in its ultimate fulfillment as a successful and useful work of art.” PeopleMindFirstsArtRealBodySpiritIndividualFeltVoiceTeachSuccessfulMovementPoetBirthUltimateImportanceAddUniversityFulfillmentSubtlePoetry IsLastingWorks Of ArtRepublicWorthwhileScholarLockedSensibilityPrimalUnnoticedFirst Things First Author:Guy Davenport
“The first impression of a work of art is its otherness from reality.” FirstsArtRealityArt IsImpressionWorks Of ArtFirst ImpressionOtherness Author:Susanne Katherina Langer
“We, all of us in the First World, have participated in something of a binge, a half century of unbelievable prosperity and ease. We may have had some intuition that it was a binge and the earth couldn't support it, but aside from the easy things (biodegradable detergent, slightly smaller cars) we didn't do much. We didn't turn our lives around to prevent it. Our sadness is almost an aesthetic response - appropriate because we have marred a great, mad, profligate work of art, taken a hammer to the most perfectly proportioned of sculptures.” WorldFirstsMayArtEarthTurnsEasyHalfSupportTakenOur LivesSadnessCenturyCarMadResponseProsperityIntuitionEaseAppropriateWorks Of ArtAestheticConsumerismUnbelievableSculptureHammersOverconsumptionEasy ThingsBingeBiodegradable Author:Bill McKibben
“A genuine work of art usually displeases at first sight, as it suggests a deficiency in the spectator.” FirstsArtSightGenuineWorks Of ArtSpectatorsDeficiency Author:Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“All art is erotic. The first ornament to have been invented, the cross, was of erotic origin. It was the first work of art. A horizontal stroke: the woman lying down. A vertical stroke: the male who penetrates her.” FirstsHas BeensArtLyingArt IsCrossesMalesWorks Of ArtStrokesEroticPenetrateOrnamentsVerticalHorizontalLying Down Author:Adolf Loos