“The idea of hereditary legislators is as inconsistent as that of hereditary judges, or hereditary juries; and as absurd as an hereditary mathematician, or an hereditary wise man; and as ridiculous as an hereditary poet-laureat.” MenIdeasPoliticsWisePoetJudgingRidiculousAbsurdMathematicianJuryLegislatorsInconsistentHereditary Author:Thomas Paine
“Poetry is a bad medium for philosophy. Everything in the philosophical poem has to satisfy irreconcilable requirements: for instance, the last demand that we should make of philosophy (that it be interesting) is the first we make of a poem; the philosophical poet has an elevated and methodical, but forlorn and absurd air as he works away at his flying tank, his sewing-machine that also plays the piano.” ShouldFirstsPhilosophyPlayLastsInterestingAirPoetDemandMachinesPhilosophicalFlyingAbsurdMediumsInstancePianoPoetry IsRequirementsTanksSewingForlornMethodical Author:Randall Jarrell
“A successful poem says what a poet wants to say, and more, with particular finality. The remarks he makes about his poems are incidental when the poem is good, or embarrassing or absurd when it is bad and he is not permitted to say how the good poem is good, and may never know how the bad poem is bad. It is better to write about other people's poetry.” PeopleKnowsWantWritingMayKnow HowSuccessfulParticularPoetAbsurdEmbarrassingRemarksFinality Author:Randall Jarrell
“The Theatre of the Absurd has renounced arguing about the absurdity of the human condition; it merely presents it in being - that is, in terms of concrete stage images. This is the difference between the approach of the philosopher and that of the poet; the difference, to take an example from another sphere, between the idea of God in the works of Thomas Aquinas or Spinoza and the intuition of God in those of St. John of the Cross or Meister Eckhart - the difference between theory and experience.” HumansIdeasTermDifferencesConditionsStageExamplePoetTheoryApproachCrossesPhilosopherIntuitionTheatreArguingAbsurdSpheresHuman ConditionConcreteAbsurditySpinozaSt John Of The Cross Book:The Theatre of the Absurd Source: The Theatre of the Absurd
“Imagism was a reductio ad absurdum of one or two tendencies of romanticism, such a beautifully and finally absurd one that it is hard to believe it existed as anything but a logical construction; and what imagist found it possible to go on writing imagist poetry? A number of poets have stopped writing entirely; others, like recurring decimals, repeat the novelties they commeced with, each time less valuably than before. And there are surrealist poetry, and political poetry, and all the othe refuges of the indigent.” WritingBelieveTwoHardPoliticalFoundNumbersPoetGoes OnAbsurdTendenciesRepeatsLogicalAdsConstructionRefugeNoveltyRomanticismHard To BelieveRecurringSurrealistDecimals Author:Randall Jarrell
“what primitive tastes the ancients must have had if their poets were inspired by those absurd, untidy clumps of mist, idiotically jostling one another about” IfsPoetTasteInspiredAbsurdPrimitiveMist Book:We: New Edition Source: We: New Edition
“Literary men are being employed to praise a big business man personally, as men used to praise a king. They not only find political reasons for the commercial schemes that they have done for some time past they also find moral defences for the commercial schemers... I do resent the whole age of patronage being revived under such absurd patrons; and all poets becoming court poets, under kings that have taken no oath.” MenReasonDoneWholeBigsAgePastPoliticalUsedMoralTakenPoetKingsBecomingPraiseCourtAbsurdSchemesEmployedDefenceOathResentBig BusinessPatronPatronageBusiness ManTimes Past Author:Gilbert K. Chesterton
“I am grown old, and have possibly lost a great deal of that fire, which formerly made me love fire in others at any rate, and however attended with smoke: but now I must have all sense, and cannot, for the sake of five righteous lines, forgive a thousand absurd ones.” MadePoetryLiteratureLostLinesDealsFireFivePoetThousandForgivingRateSakeAbsurdSmokeRighteousObscurity Book:Lord Chesterfield's Letters Source: Lord Chesterfield's Letters
“It's absurd and quite tragic the way people have managed to pit science against faith. They aren't in conflict at all - they're long lost dance partners. I don't divide the world up into Christians and other people - we are all human beings, brothers and sisters, and we embrace truth wherever we find it, whether that's in a lab, a field or a cathedral. Because sometimes you need a scientist and sometimes you need a poet.” PeopleWorldWayNeedsHumansLongSometimesChristianLostHuman BeingsFieldsPoetBrotherConflictScientistEmbracePartnersAbsurdTragicDividesBrothers And SistersPitsLabsCathedralsDance Partner Author:Rob Bell