I dislike literary jargon and never use it. Criticism has only one function and that is to help readers read and understand literature. It is not a science, it is an aid to art.
quote by Anne Stevenson
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Related quotes
As society diversifies, the number of people who read literature is decreasing. It will be difficult for readers to digest my ideas through literature.
Edgar Allan Poe
An American literary icon but what caused his death none seem to know
He was more than a man of words the great Edgar Allan Poe
He died when in his forties his best writing years of him ahead
His fame has attained greatness and he is widely read.
Most writers in their forties have scarcely reached their writing prime
His marvellous poem 'The Raven' has not faded out in time
A writer for all ages and one of literary note
And many who love literature have him as their favourite poet.
In life he was quite famous in death greatness he did attain
As an immortal literary gem 'The Raven' does remain
In the English speaking Countries of the World from North to Southern shore
His writings remain popular and his readers now far more
Than he had in his lifetime his genius is living on
Whilst millions of his contemporaries to obscurity have gone
Despite the passing of time his literary legend grow
Though in his too brief life span few him did wish to know.
poem by Francis Duggan
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
During half a century of literary work, I have endeavoured to introduce the philosophy of evolution into the sphere of literature, and to inspire my readers to think in evolutionary terms.
quote by Johannes Vilhelm Jensen
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
In science, read, by preference, the newest works; in literature, the oldest. The classic literature is always modern.
quote by Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Oh The Poems
OH THE POEMS AND THE POEMS AND THE POEMS
Oh the poems and the poems and the poems
Oh the love of Literature
Oh all that stuff
I have given my life to-
Words and meanings and feelings
Pages and pages and pages –
What it is all this literary life for?
When out the window out the door
With our eyes we see in an instant other worlds other dreams?
I don’t know and I will never know
And Literature is certainly far more than I can say it is-
Oh the poems and this poem and this day turning grey
And all my life old and old and more old and more old-
Oh why oh why oh why
And always back to God
My last rescue and refuge and escape
I who have read so much Great Literature
And can only write this-
Oh the why and the oh oh oh and the words
And the whole world of Literature
I would belong to and do not.
Oh the words oh the world oh the Literature
Oh God help me please can’t you please help me a little or not?
poem by Shalom Freedman
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Even if you only want to write science fiction, you should also read mysteries, poetry, mainstream literature, history, biography, philosophy, and science.
quote by Walter Jon Williams
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
All good criticism should be judged the way art is. You shouldn't read it the way you read history or science.
quote by Leslie Fiedler
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
The Hand Behind
The hand behind is controlling
my mouse, the bug, cursor everything..
The arrow roams alone without me,
along the screen.........
I feel, it's you, you only,
shadowing me, following my steps!
Who are you my invisible friend?
You read my poems, when they get
ready to see the light of the
readers' curious eyes.
You want to make me dance
along with your thought,
you dislike my talk with other,
You want to read me with clicks.
I want you to read me, once, twice,
thrice.....I know, at the day's
end you can' t bag anything you want...
You know, I'm crystal clear! !
poem by Nilakshi Das
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
In science, read by preference the newest works. In literature, read the oldest. The classics are always modern.
quote by Amy Lowell
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
For this reason, to study English literature without some general knowledge of the relation of the Bible to that literature would be to leave one's literary education very incomplete.
quote by Lafcadio Hearn
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Among the letters my readers write me, there is a certain category which is continuously growing, and which I see as a symptom of the increasing intellectualization of the relationship between readers and literature.
quote by Herman Hesse
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Blank Pages
Fierce are blank books triumphing over good,
Then biggest literature is born for the bachelorhood.
Fun are the readers to accompany, to admire
For their effort and will, they are in their attire.
Good people do read and recite for pleasure,
Leaders of literature force the one farther;
It is one of the best of rhythm, of rounder look,
Saying is not doing or writing a book.
Blank pages do run, their fun is deep when justice
Is made from the spelling how we make abruptness.
poem by Naveed Akram
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
The function of literature, through all its mutations, has been to make us aware of the particularity of selves, and the high authority of the self in its quarrel with its society and its culture. Literature is in that sense subversive.
quote by Lionel Trilling
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Criticism is a misconception: we must read not to understand others but to understand ourselves.
quote by Emile M. Cioran
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
I have been a reader of Science Fiction and Fantasy for a long time, since I was 11 or 12 I think, so I understand it and I'm not at all surprised that readers of the genre might enjoy my books.
quote by Jean M. Auel
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Too much religion is just bad literary criticism.
aphorism by Scott F. Parker
Submitted by Dan Costinaş
Vote! | Copy! | In Spanish | In Romanian
I've had trouble with criticism, I guess. It's hard to know what role criticism plays in either encouraging poets or in getting other people to read them.
quote by Kenneth Koch
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
My old English buddy, John Rackham, wrote and told me what made science fiction different from all other kinds of literature - science fiction is written according to the science fiction method.
quote by Frederik Pohl
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
If government, or those in positions of power and authority, can silence criticism by the argument that such criticism might be misunderstood somewhere, there is an end to all criticism, and perhaps an end to our kind of political system. For men in authority will always think that criticism of their policies is dangerous. They will always equate their policies with patriotism, and find criticism subversive.
quote by Henry Steele Commager
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
Vote! | Copy!
Deeper Inner Meanings
Let us ponder
the words and phrases
poets and artists
have used
as we delve
into obvious
and deeper
inner meanings.
What is exact origin
of these so often
quoted famous
choice chosen words?
A spontaneous
eureka phrase
born instantly
in the mind
or a protracted
laboured discourse
cunningly created
a deliberate conceit.
Writers so love
their ingenious
imaginative poetic
chosen images
writing must contain
such images
as metaphor simile
personification
a comparison
which is extreme
or far-fetched
wins accolades.
However the exact
meaning as envisaged
by moods of original
penmanship are not
conceived embodied
as a clone interpretation
by readers separated
by time space cultural bias.
We the reader impose
individualistic insightful
meaning as dictated by
personal taste possibly
skilled literary criticism.
Rhetoric discourse read
might be described as
a clever trick of arbitrary
whim, written by magicians
of illusion; yet many scripts
can be traced to proven
historical events which
occurred in the artists lifetime.
Good criticism will progress
from an introductory How
into What a text means, based
upon insightful and plausible
readings, with appropriate quotes
to sustain the argument chosen.
poem by Terence George Craddock
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!