--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: In our society of fixed texts and printed…" description: "\"“In our society of fixed texts and printed words, it is the function of the poet to see the life value of the facts round about, and to deify them, as ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0aa/joseph-campbell-300_eternal_in-our-society-of-fixed-texts-and-printe_965935.jpg" --- # In our society of fixed texts and printed words, it is the… ![“In our society of fixed texts and printed words, it is the function of the poet to see the life value of the facts round about, and to deify them, as it were, to provide images that relate the everyday to the eternal.” quote by Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0aa/joseph-campbell-300_eternal_in-our-society-of-fixed-texts-and-printe_965935.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0aa/joseph-campbell-300_eternal_in-our-society-of-fixed-texts-and-printe_965935.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0aa/joseph-campbell-300_eternal_in-our-society-of-fixed-texts-and-printe_965935.jpg) > ““In our society of fixed texts and printed words, it is the function of the poet to see the life value of the facts round about, and to deify them, as it were, to provide images that relate the everyday to the eternal.”” [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Poets transform everyday facts into timeless images, linking daily life to eternal truths. **In simple terms:** Art makes the mundane sacred. Key Takeaway Create meaningful narratives. Themes art mythology culture meaning Mood inspirational reflective Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - creative writing - teaching - marketing - public speaking Key Concepts symbolism narrative theory transcendence Questions to Reflect On - How can myth clarify modern issues? - What daily facts inspire you? A Different Perspective Art can be misinterpreted. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Eternal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/eternal/) [Everyday](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/everyday/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Life Value](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life-value/) [Poet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poet/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Society](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/society/) ## Related quotes > [I am a correctionist. If something is wrong in society, it must be fixed. At least one should try to fix it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/i-am-a-correctionist-if-something-is-wrong-in-society-it-must-be/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) > [We, as a society, have become very fixed in our ideas of how things were, how they are, and how they should be.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brandon-victor-dixon/we-as-a-society-have-become-very-fixed-in-our-ideas-of-how-things/) [Brandon Victor Dixon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brandon-victor-dixon/) > [The only everyday and eternal reality was love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabriel-garc-a-m-rquez/the-only-everyday-and-eternal-reality-was-love/) [Gabriel Garcia Marquez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabriel-garc-a-m-rquez/) > [ “\[A\]nd both of them remained floating in an empty universe where the only everyday and eternal reality was love.” ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabriel-garc-a-m-rquez/a-nd-both-of-them-remained-floating-in-an-empty-universe-where-the/) [Gabriel Garcia Marquez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabriel-garc-a-m-rquez/) > [“The distance runner who accepts the past in the person he is, and sees the future as a promise rather than a threat, is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-sheehan/the-distance-runner-who-accepts-the-past-in-the-person-he-is-and-sees/) [George Sheehan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-sheehan/) > [“The question of what kind of a thing a text or poem is now becomes a function neither of what the poet might have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennifer-ashton/the-question-of-what-kind-of-a-thing-a-text-or-poem-is-now-becomes-a/) [Jennifer Ashton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jennifer-ashton/) > [“To my way of thinking the function of the poet is to make us aware of what we know and don't know we know.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-s-burroughs/to-my-way-of-thinking-the-function-of-the-poet-is-to-make-us-aware-of/) [William S. Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-s-burroughs/) > [“it is the function of a poet to relate not things that have happened, but things that may happen,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/it-is-the-function-of-a-poet-to-relate-not-things-that-have-happened/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [June Jordan once said something which is just wonderful. I'm paraphrasing her-that her function as a poet was to make revolution irresistible. Well o.k.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/audre-lorde/june-jordan-once-said-something-which-is-just-wonderful-i-m/) [Audre Lorde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/audre-lorde/) > [“If life is a poem, be the poet. If life is a story, be the author. If life is an adventure, be the hero.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-maraboli/if-life-is-a-poem-be-the-poet-if-life-is-a-story-be-the-author-if/) [Steve Maraboli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-maraboli/) > [The poet’s life is just so much crenellated waste, nights and days whipping swiftly or laboriously past the cinematic window. We’re hunched and weaving…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eileen-myles/the-poet-s-life-is-just-so-much-crenellated-waste-nights-and-days/) [Eileen Myles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eileen-myles/) > [The great thing about living until you get a bit older if you are a writer, and especially a poet, is that you have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clive-james/the-great-thing-about-living-until-you-get-a-bit-older-if-you-are-a/) [Clive James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clive-james/) > [The art of life, of a poet's life, is, not having anything to do, to do something.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/the-art-of-life-of-a-poet-s-life-is-not-having-anything-to-do-to-do/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [I began to write in an enclosed, self-confident literary culture. The poet's life stood in a burnished light in the Ireland of that time.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eavan-boland/i-began-to-write-in-an-enclosed-self-confident-literary-culture-the/) [Eavan Boland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eavan-boland/) > [What we're learning in our schools is not the wisdom of life. We're learning technologies, we're getting information. There's a curious reluctance on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/what-we-re-learning-in-our-schools-is-not-the-wisdom-of-life-we-re/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) ## More by Joseph Campbell > [If a person does not listen to the demands of their own spiritual and heart life and insists on a certain program, you're going…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/if-a-person-does-not-listen-to-the-demands-of-their-own-spiritual-and/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [The last act in the biography of the hero is that of the death or departure.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/the-last-act-in-the-biography-of-the-hero-is-that-of-the-death-or/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/the-privilege-of-a-lifetime-is-being-who-you-are/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [The eternal principle, which never was born, never will die: it is in all things: it is in you now. You are the wave…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/the-eternal-principle-which-never-was-born-never-will-die-it-is-in/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [How do you find the divine power in yourself? The word enthusiasm means 'filled with a god,' so what makes you enthusiastic? Follow it.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/how-do-you-find-the-divine-power-in-yourself-the-word-enthusiasm/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [What we're learning in our schools is not the wisdom of life. We're learning technologies, we're getting information. There's a curious reluctance on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/what-we-re-learning-in-our-schools-is-not-the-wisdom-of-life-we-re/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [ The fall \[of your soul\] from perfection into duality...was naturally followed by the discovery of the duality of good and evil...This is the Biblical… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/the-fall-of-your-soul-from-perfection-into-duality-was-naturally/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [So that's what destiny is: simply the fulfillment of the potentialites of the energies in your own system.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/so-that-s-what-destiny-is-simply-the-fulfillment-of-the-potentialites/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [Your ego is your embodiment and your self is your potentiality and that's what you listen to when you listen for the voice of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/your-ego-is-your-embodiment-and-your-self-is-your-potentiality-and/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [When you follow your bliss a kind of track opens up, that's always been there, waiting for you. And the life that you should…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/when-you-follow-your-bliss-a-kind-of-track-opens-up-that-s-always/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [The best we can do is lean towards the light.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/the-best-we-can-do-is-lean-towards-the-light/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [I think of mythology as the homeland of the muses, the inspirers of art, the inspirers of poetry. To see life as a poem…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/i-think-of-mythology-as-the-homeland-of-the-muses-the-inspirers-of/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [When you are falling --- Dive!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/when-you-are-falling-dive/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [We're all seeking...the rapture of being alive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/we-re-all-seeking-the-rapture-of-being-alive/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [Both the artist and the lover know that perfection is not loveable. It is the clumsiness of a fault that makes a person lovable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/both-the-artist-and-the-lover-know-that-perfection-is-not-loveable-it/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) [Explore all 711 Joseph Campbell quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) ## More Eternal quotes > [Many individuals spend a considerable portion of their lifetimes in terror of one imagined catastrophe or another. The classic is that your immortal soul…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-neil-smith/many-individuals-spend-a-considerable-portion-of-their-lifetimes-in/) [L. Neil Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-neil-smith/) > [Eternal Trinity... mystery deep as the sea, You could give me no greater gift than the gift of Yourself. For You are a fire…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/st-catherine-of-siena/eternal-trinity-mystery-deep-as-the-sea-you-could-give-me-no-greater/) [St. Catherine of Siena](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/st-catherine-of-siena/) > [“Please not yet. Those are the three eternal words. Please not yet.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-d-macdonald/please-not-yet-those-are-the-three-eternal-words-please-not-yet/) [John D. MacDonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-d-macdonald/) > [I remain an eternal optimist about love. I believe in love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennifer-lopez/i-remain-an-eternal-optimist-about-love-i-believe-in-love/) [Jennifer Lopez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jennifer-lopez/) > [The writings of latter-day prophets clearly teach that the sorrows and sufferings endured by Adam and Eve upon their leaving the Garden of Eden…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-k-judd/the-writings-of-latter-day-prophets-clearly-teach-that-the-sorrows/) Daniel K Judd > [There are two kinds of beauty; there is a beauty which God gives at birth, and which withers as a flower. And there is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-kuyper/there-are-two-kinds-of-beauty-there-is-a-beauty-which-god-gives-at/) [Abraham Kuyper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-kuyper/) > [The time has come for us to understand that the Eternal Feminine is the greatest power in this Universe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samael-aun-weor/the-time-has-come-for-us-to-understand-that-the-eternal-feminine-is/) [Samael Aun Weor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samael-aun-weor/) > [May God bless each of us in our calls to serve. May our faith strengthen as we serve in righteousness, faithfully keeping the commandments.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-tom-perry/may-god-bless-each-of-us-in-our-calls-to-serve-may-our-faith/) [L. Tom Perry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-tom-perry/) > [We are eternal. All this pain is an illusion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maynard-james-keenan/we-are-eternal-all-this-pain-is-an-illusion/) [Maynard James Keenan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maynard-james-keenan/) > [In some respects I will never die. Because art is immortal. What we leave behind and what we create - the energy that we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/madonna-ciccone/in-some-respects-i-will-never-die-because-art-is-immortal-what-we/) [Madonna Ciccone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/madonna-ciccone/) > [The only way to have eternal love is to never let your heart forget what it’s like to live without it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sherrilyn-kenyon/the-only-way-to-have-eternal-love-is-to-never-let-your-heart-forget/) [Sherrilyn Kenyon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sherrilyn-kenyon/) > [My God, whose son, as on this night, took on Him the form of man, and for man vouchsafed to suffer and bleed, controls…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-bronte/my-god-whose-son-as-on-this-night-took-on-him-the-form-of-man-and-for/) [Charlotte Bronte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-bronte/) > [In the course of our eternal existence, we spend infinitely more time in the spirit world on the other side than we spend in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-browne/in-the-course-of-our-eternal-existence-we-spend-infinitely-more-time/) [Sylvia Browne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-browne/) > [The propitious smiles of Heaven, can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-washington/the-propitious-smiles-of-heaven-can-never-be-expected-on-a-nation/) [George Washington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-washington/) > [If our faith in God is not the veriest sham, it demands, and will produce, the abandonment sometimes, the subordination always, of external helps…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-maclaren/if-our-faith-in-god-is-not-the-veriest-sham-it-demands-and-will/) [Alexander MacLaren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-maclaren/) [Browse all 3,280 Eternal quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/eternal/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“In our society of fixed texts and printed words, it is the function of the poet to see the life value of the facts round about, and to deify them, as it were, to provide images that relate the everyday to the eternal.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Joseph Campbell" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/in-our-society-of-fixed-texts-and-printed-words-it-is-the-function-of/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Eternal" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/in-our-society-of-fixed-texts-and-printed-words-it-is-the-function-of/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0aa/joseph-campbell-300_eternal_in-our-society-of-fixed-texts-and-printe_965935.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0aa/joseph-campbell-300_eternal_in-our-society-of-fixed-texts-and-printe_965935.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0aa/joseph-campbell-300_eternal_in-our-society-of-fixed-texts-and-printe_965935.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“In our society of fixed texts and printed words, it is the function of the poet to see the life value of the…” — Joseph Campbell", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Joseph Campbell", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“In our society of fixed texts...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/in-our-society-of-fixed-texts-and-printed-words-it-is-the-function-of/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/in-our-society-of-fixed-texts-and-printed-words-it-is-the-function-of/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```