“There are some good things and some fantastic ones in Auden's early attitude; if the reader calls it a muddle I shall acquiesce, with the remark that the later position might be considered a more rarefied muddle. But poets rather specialize in muddles and I have no doubt which of the muddles was better for Auden's poetry: one was fertile and usable, the other decidedly is not. Auden sometimes seems to be saying with Henry Clay, "I had rather be right than poetry"; but I am not sure, then, that he is either.” IfsSometimesSeemsMightAttitudeDoubtPositionPoetReaderGood ThingsFantasticNot SureNo DoubtClayRemarksFertileMuddleAuden Author:Randall Jarrell
“I don't doubt that at the dawn of martial arts, the main goal was to beat up one's opponents in the most effective way possible. But then, indirectly, the alchemy of martial arts began to strike some chords deep within the spirit of many individuals, transforming living war-machines into poets, artists, and philosophers.” WayArtWarSpiritArtistIndividualGoalDoubtPoetBeatsArt IsMachinesPhilosopherStrikesDawnOpponentsMartial ArtsChordsTransformingAlchemyDeep Within Book:On the Warrior's Path, Second Edition: Philosophy, Fighting, and Martial Arts Mythology Source: On the Warrior's Path, Second Edition: Philosophy, Fighting, and Martial Arts Mythology
“The reason why Matthew Arnold, to my feeling, fails entirely as a poet (though no doubt his ideas were good - at least, I am told they were) is that he had no sense of touch whatsoever. Nothing made any impression on his skin. He could feel neither the shape nor the texture of a poem with his hands.” FeelsMadeIdeasReasonFeelingsHandsDoubtFailingPoetShapesSkinsImpressionReason WhyNo DoubtTextureMatthew Book:Ser. Milton and the Augustan Age Source: Ser. Milton and the Augustan Age
“Most poetry is the utterance of a man in some state of passion, love, joy, grief, rage, etc., and no doubt this is as it should be. But no man is perpetually in a passion and those states in which he is amused and amusing, detached and irreverent, if less important, are no less amusing. If there were no poets who, like Byron, express these states, Poetry would lack something.” IfsMenShouldImportantStatesJoyPassionGriefDoubtPoetRageNo DoubtEtcPoetry IsAmusingDetachedAmusedUtteranceLove PassionByronIrreverent Author:W. H. Auden
“What the world wants, what the world is waiting for, is not Modern Poetry or Classical Poetry or Neo-Classical Poetry - but Good Poetry. And the dreadful disreputable doubt, which stirs in my own skeptical mind, is doubt about whether it would really matter much what style a poet chose to write in, in any period, as long as he wrote Good poetry.” WorldWantWritingMindLongMatterWaitingMy OwnDoubtModernStylePoetPeriodsSkepticalModern PoetryGood Poetry Author:Gilbert K. Chesterton
“You can recollect the sayings of great men, you treasure up verse of renowned poets; ought you not be equally profound in your knowledge of the words of God, so that you may be able to quote them readily when you would solve a difficulty or overthrow a doubt?” MenMayAbleDoubtPoetOughtDifficultyProfoundSolveTreasureGreat MenWord Of GodVersesRenowned Author:Charles Spurgeon
“It gives a man character as a poet to have a daily contact with a job. I doubt whether I've lost a thing by leading an exceedingly regular and disciplined life.” MenGivingCharacterJobsLostDoubtPoetContactDisciplined Life Author:Wallace Stevens
“Do poets have any insight into what's the right ratio? I doubt it, but I think that they can be awake to what the ends are.” ThinkingEndsDoubtPoetInsightAwakeRatios Author:Robert Hass
“I believe strongly in what John Keats called negative capability: the trait or practice that allows a poet to remain in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact & reason. For Keats, William Shakespeare exemplified negative capability, and I do think it's extraordinary that for all the thousands of pages Shakespeare left behind, we really don't know much about Shakespeare's own personality or opinions.” ThinkingBelieveReasonI BelieveOpinionDoubtMysteryPoetPersonalityNegativeExtraordinaryUncertaintyCapabilityTraitsLeft Behind Author:James Arthur