--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There has been a vast output of critical…" description: "\"There has been a vast output of critical studies in contemporary poetry, some of them first rate, but I do not think that , as a rule, a poet should re..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ba2/w-h-auden-856_contemporary_there-has-been-a-vast-output-of-critical_525508.png" --- # There has been a vast output of critical studies in… ![“There has been a vast output of critical studies in contemporary poetry, some of them first rate, but I do not think that , as a rule, a poet should read them.” quote by W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ba2/w-h-auden-856_contemporary_there-has-been-a-vast-output-of-critical_525508.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ba2/w-h-auden-856_contemporary_there-has-been-a-vast-output-of-critical_525508.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ba2/w-h-auden-856_contemporary_there-has-been-a-vast-output-of-critical_525508.png) > “There has been a vast output of critical studies in contemporary poetry, some of them first rate, but I do not think that , as a rule, a poet should read them.” [W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Poets may benefit from criticism, but excessive focus on scholarly analysis can hinder creative intuition. **In simple terms:** Criticism can distract poets from creation. Key Takeaway Balance study with instinct. Themes creativity criticism artistic process learning Mood introspective thoughtful Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - writing workshops - academic study - personal practice Key Concepts aesthetics literary theory Questions to Reflect On - How much criticism fuels your work? - When does analysis impede inspiration? A Different Perspective Scholarly reading can become an echo chamber. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Contemporary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contemporary/) [Contemporary Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contemporary-poetry-1508263/) [Critical](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/critical/) [Critical Studies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/critical-studies-4425809/) [Firsts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/firsts/) [Has beens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/has-beens/) [Output](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/output/) [Poet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poet/) [Poet Read](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poet-read-1544948/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Productivity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/productivity/) [Rate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rate/) [Rule Poet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rule-poet-1608871/) [Should](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/should/) [Studies Contemporary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/studies-contemporary-4425810/) [Study](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/study/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) ## Related quotes > [Sir, I admit your general rule, That every poet is a fool, But you yourself may serve to show it, That every fool is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-taylor-coleridge/sir-i-admit-your-general-rule-that-every-poet-is-a-fool-but-you/) [Samuel Taylor Coleridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-taylor-coleridge/) > [Every American poet feels that the whole responsibility for contemporary poetry has fallen upon his shoulders, that he is a literary aristocracy of one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/every-american-poet-feels-that-the-whole-responsibility-for/) [W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/) > [A poet is not a public figure. A poet should be read and not seen.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cecil-day-lewis/a-poet-is-not-a-public-figure-a-poet-should-be-read-and-not-seen/) [Cecil Day-Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cecil-day-lewis/) > [The way to become a poet is to read poetry and to imitate what you read and to read passionately and widely and in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hirsch/the-way-to-become-a-poet-is-to-read-poetry-and-to-imitate-what-you/) [Edward Hirsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hirsch/) > [How far we are going to read a poet when we can read about a poet is a problem to lay before biographers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/how-far-we-are-going-to-read-a-poet-when-we-can-read-about-a-poet-is/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [You can't read to yourself. It's your inner ear that hears a poem. 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It joins these fields and makes writing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/etel-adnan/i-love-contemporary-poetry-because-it-moves-between-what-we-call/) [Etel Adnan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/etel-adnan/) > [There is no access to contemporary poetry in the libraries.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kwame-dawes/there-is-no-access-to-contemporary-poetry-in-the-libraries/) [Kwame Dawes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kwame-dawes/) > [Anyway I read more contemporary poetry than contemporary fiction so my mind goes first to a kind of crass "conceptualism" that repeats vanguard gestures…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-lerner/anyway-i-read-more-contemporary-poetry-than-contemporary-fiction-so/) [Ben Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-lerner/) > [Sometimes you get lit students that know a lot about the canon but virtually nothing about contemporary poetry and vice versa. I like to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elaine-equi/sometimes-you-get-lit-students-that-know-a-lot-about-the-canon-but/) [Elaine Equi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elaine-equi/) > [If you can find two poems in a book, it could be a pretty good book for you. You know, two poems you really…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-kooser/if-you-can-find-two-poems-in-a-book-it-could-be-a-pretty-good-book/) [Ted Kooser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-kooser/) ## More by W. H. Auden > [Pleasure is by no means an infallible critical guide, but it is the least fallible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/pleasure-is-by-no-means-an-infallible-critical-guide-but-it-is-the/) [W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/) > [Why doesn't the United States take over the monarchy and unite with England? England does have important assets. 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Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/) > [I and the public know What all schoolchildren learn, Those to whom evil is done Do evil in return.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/i-and-the-public-know-what-all-schoolchildren-learn-those-to-whom/) [W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/) > [One cannot walk through an assembly factory and not feel that one is in Hell.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/one-cannot-walk-through-an-assembly-factory-and-not-feel-that-one-is/) [W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/) > [How happy the lot of the mathematician. He is judged solely by his peers, and the standard is so high that no colleague or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/how-happy-the-lot-of-the-mathematician-he-is-judged-solely-by-his/) [W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/) > [Perhaps there is only one cardinal sin: impatience. 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Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/) > [To hunt for symbols in a fairy tale is absolutely fatal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/to-hunt-for-symbols-in-a-fairy-tale-is-absolutely-fatal/) [W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/) [Explore all 344 W. H. Auden quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/) ## More Contemporary quotes > [In the future, I would like to do more films with contemporary themes. 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