--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I think it was rather an advantage not…" description: "\"I think it was rather an advantage not having any living poets in England or America in whom one took any particular interest. I don't know what it wou..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a37/t-s-eliot-633_advantage_i-think-it-was-rather-an-advantage-not-h_1339670.png" --- # I think it was rather an advantage not having any living… ![“I think it was rather an advantage not having any living poets in England or America in whom one took any particular interest. I don't know what it would be like but I think it would be a rather troublesome distraction to have such a lot of dominating presences, as you call them, about…” quote by T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a37/t-s-eliot-633_advantage_i-think-it-was-rather-an-advantage-not-h_1339670.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a37/t-s-eliot-633_advantage_i-think-it-was-rather-an-advantage-not-h_1339670.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a37/t-s-eliot-633_advantage_i-think-it-was-rather-an-advantage-not-h_1339670.png) > “I think it was rather an advantage not having any living poets in England or America in whom one took any particular interest. I don't know what it would be like but I think it would be a rather troublesome distraction to have such a lot of dominating presences, as you call them, about. Fortunately we weren't bothered by each other.” [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The author suggests that lacking contemporary poets frees one from competing literary influences, allowing clearer creative focus. **In simple terms:** No living poets means fewer distractions for writers. Key Takeaway Embrace originality without comparing to peers. Themes creativity literary influence focus Mood contemplative analytical Type literary critical When to use this quote - writing - academic research - personal reflection Key Concepts individualism artistic autonomy Questions to Reflect On - How does absence of peers affect your work? - Do you miss contemporary dialogue? A Different Perspective Even without peers, isolation can limit feedback and growth. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Advantage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/advantage/) [America](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/america/) [Bothered](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bothered/) [Distraction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/distraction/) [Dominating](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dominating/) [Dominating Presences](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dominating-presences-4521733/) [England](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/england/) [Interest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/interest/) [Knows](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knows/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Living Poets](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/living-poets-3111132/) [Particular](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/particular/) [Poet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poet/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Poets](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poets/) [Poets England](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poets-england-4521732/) [Presences](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/presences-560331/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Troublesome](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/troublesome/) [Would be](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/would-be/) ## Related quotes > [Dan Gerber is one of our finest living poets.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/dan-gerber-is-one-of-our-finest-living-poets/) [Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) > [The anthology meets with two different kinds of reactions in living poets. They will either write toward the anthology or away from it. Anti-anthology…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-riding/the-anthology-meets-with-two-different-kinds-of-reactions-in-living/) [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) > [“What poets, I cried aloud, as one does in the dusk, what poets they were! In a sort of jealousy, I suppose, for our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/what-poets-i-cried-aloud-as-one-does-in-the-dusk-what-poets-they-were/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [O ye dead Poets, who are living still Immortal in your verse, though life be fled, And ye, O living Poets, who are dead…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-wadsworth-longfellow/o-ye-dead-poets-who-are-living-still-immortal-in-your-verse-though/) [Henry Wadsworth Longfellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-wadsworth-longfellow/) > [That's what all painting is about, it”s space and light occupied by human presences.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-kossoff/that-s-what-all-painting-is-about-it-s-space-and-light-occupied-by/) [Leon Kossoff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leon-kossoff/) > [“Do you not feel’, said the Doctor in his very soft but still crisp-edged voice, ‘that invisible presences have more reality than visible ones?…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-carter/do-you-not-feel-said-the-doctor-in-his-very-soft-but-still-crisp/) [Angela Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-carter/) > [“When I am alone the flowers are really seen; I can pay attention to them. They are felt as presences. Without them I would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/may-sarton/when-i-am-alone-the-flowers-are-really-seen-i-can-pay-attention-to-2/) [May Sarton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/may-sarton/) > [“Her presences or absences din't matter alot i always painted picture with her.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sonjay-singh/her-presences-or-absences-din-t-matter-alot-i-always-painted-picture/) [Sonjay Singh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sonjay-singh/) > [“there are moments when we understand that the earth and the sky and the presences that may lie behind them are always with us.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-lee-burke/there-are-moments-when-we-understand-that-the-earth-and-the-sky-and/) [James Lee Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-lee-burke/) > [“It was the absences that had made her think, not the presences.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-hornby/it-was-the-absences-that-had-made-her-think-not-the-presences/) [Nick Hornby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-hornby/) > [Poetry is not truth, it is the resurrection of presences.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/poetry-is-not-truth-it-is-the-resurrection-of-presences/) [Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) > [People have presences, both online and in real life. You can choose to show everything, meaning all sides of you, or you can choose…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-systrom/people-have-presences-both-online-and-in-real-life-you-can-choose-to/) [Kevin Systrom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-systrom/) > [When I am alone the flowers are really seen; I can pay attention to them. They are felt as presences. Without them I would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/may-sarton/when-i-am-alone-the-flowers-are-really-seen-i-can-pay-attention-to/) [May Sarton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/may-sarton/) > [I think there are presences out there that we can't see or directly communicate with that have benevolent influence on us. Whether they're angels…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/misha-collins/i-think-there-are-presences-out-there-that-we-can-t-see-or-directly/) [Misha Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/misha-collins/) > [“What explanation does Ibn Arabi give for these phenomena ? A first explanation invokes the hierarchical planes of being, the Hadarat, or "Presences." There…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-corbin/what-explanation-does-ibn-arabi-give-for-these-phenomena-a-first/) [Henry Corbin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-corbin/) ## More by T. S. Eliot > [The Nobel is a ticket to one's own funeral. No one has ever done anything after he got it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/the-nobel-is-a-ticket-to-one-s-own-funeral-no-one-has-ever-done/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [Dear Mother, I am getting on nicely in my work at the bank, and like it ... I want to find out something about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/dear-mother-i-am-getting-on-nicely-in-my-work-at-the-bank-and-like-it/) [T. S. 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Given total freedom,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/when-forced-to-work-within-a-strict-framework-the-imagination-is/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [Honest criticism and sensitive appreciation are directed not upon the poet but upon the poetry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/honest-criticism-and-sensitive-appreciation-are-directed-not-upon-the/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [Desire itself is movement Not in itself desirable; Love is itself unmoving, Only the cause and end of movement, Timeless, and undesiring Except in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/desire-itself-is-movement-not-in-itself-desirable-love-is-itself/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [ 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… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/the-ordinary-man-s-experience-is-chaotic-irregular-fragmentary-he/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [We had the experience, but we missed the meaning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/we-had-the-experience-but-we-missed-the-meaning/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [The end is in the beginning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/the-end-is-in-the-beginning/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [You have learned enough to see that cats are much like you and me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/you-have-learned-enough-to-see-that-cats-are-much-like-you-and-me/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [The good poet welds his theft into a whole of feeling which is unique, utterly different than that from which it is torn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/the-good-poet-welds-his-theft-into-a-whole-of-feeling-which-is-unique/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [It's strange that words are so inadequate. Yet, like the asthmatic struggling for breath, so the lover must struggle for words.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/it-s-strange-that-words-are-so-inadequate-yet-like-the-asthmatic/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [Every end is a beginning...And every beginning is an end.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/every-end-is-a-beginning-and-every-beginning-is-an-end/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) [Explore all 433 T. S. Eliot quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) ## More Advantage quotes > [Dogmatists have one advantage: they are poor listeners.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frans-de-waal/dogmatists-have-one-advantage-they-are-poor-listeners/) [Frans de Waal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frans-de-waal/) > [ Next came the Patent laws. These began in England in 1624; and, in this country, with the adoption of our constitution. Before then \[these?\],… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/next-came-the-patent-laws-these-began-in-england-in-1624-and-in-this/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [Talented people can predict with great accuracy what's about to happen just a tiny bit ahead of their competitors. 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I think it's just ingrained in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kelly-blatz/for-some-reason-when-i-decide-to-pursue-something-i-never-have-any/) [Kelly Blatz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kelly-blatz/) > [I think I have good hands, so I try to use them to my advantage.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bianca-andreescu/i-think-i-have-good-hands-so-i-try-to-use-them-to-my-advantage/) [Bianca Andreescu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bianca-andreescu/) > [My influences are jazz, blues, European classical music; they are rock music and pop music. So many kinds of music. 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