Civilization Quote by T. S. Eliot
“Poets in our civilization, as it exists at present, must be difficult...The poet must become more and more comprehensive, more allusive, more indirect, in order to force, to dislocate if necessary, language into its meaning.”
About This Quote
Source Essay: The Role of the Poet, 1925
Poets must expand their language, using indirect and allusive techniques to reveal deeper meanings.
In simple terms: Poets need to be indirect to make language mean more.
Key Takeaway
Embrace complexity in expression.
Themes
poetry
language
meaning
Mood
reflective
analytical
Type
theoretical
inspirational
When to use this quote
- writing poetry
- literary criticism
- teaching literature
Key Concepts
literary theory
semantic depth
Questions to Reflect On
- How does indirectness affect reader engagement?
- When is clarity more valuable than allusion?
A Different Perspective
Complexity can alienate readers.
![“Poetry, even that of the loftiest, and seemingly, that of the wildest odes, [has] a logic of its own as severe as that of science; and more difficult, because more subtle, more complex, and dependent on more and more fugitive causes. In the truly great poets... there is a reason assignable, not…” quote by Samuel Taylor Coleridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/a9c/samuel-taylor-coleridge-425_causes_poetry-even-that-of-the-loftiest-and-see_2967829.jpg)
![“the ordinary man's experience is chaotic, irregular, fragmentary. [He] falls in love or reads Spinoza, and these two experiences have nothing to do with each other, or with the noise of the typewriter, or the smell of cooking; in the mind of the poet these experiences are always forming new wholes” quote by T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/18e/t-s-eliot-633_art_the-ordinary-man-s-experience-is-chaotic_93688.jpg)
