William Williams
William Williams
almost belief define fact hold impossible state
It is almost impossible to state what one in fact believes, because it is almost impossible to hold a belief and to define it at the same time.
facts human intense value vision
The only human value of anything, writing included, is intense vision of the facts.
late spring
Here it is spring againand I still a young man!I am late at my singing.
caress neck women
I feel the caress of my own fingerson my own neck as I place my collarand think pityinglyof the kind women I have known.
lies lies-and-lying manner matters secret
It is not what you say that matters but the manner in which you say it; there lies the secret of the ages.
cute-love edge love sweet-love
It is at the edge of a petal that love waits.
best born
I am lonely, lonely. I was born to be lonely, I am best so!
either ourselves
But we who are wisershut ourselves inon either handand no one knowswhether we think goodor evil.
array art becomes cling close detail devil difficulty direct eternally finality good imagination knowing lie lifting modern natural scientific scrutiny senses sets stands thus value virtual walking works
But the thing that stands eternally in the way of really good writing is always one: the virtual impossibility of lifting to the imagination those things which lie under the direct scrutiny of the senses, close to the nose. It is this difficulty that sets a value upon all works of art and makes them a necessity. The senses witnessing what is immediately before them in detail see a finality which they cling to in despair, not knowing which way to turn. Thus this so-called natural or scientific array becomes fixed, the walking devil of modern life.
art employment exist object poet poetry senses sensual since
But all art is sensual and poetry particularly so. It is directly, that is, of the senses, and since the senses do not exist without an object for their employment all art is necessarily objective. It doesn't declaim or explain, it presents.
art poetry sensual
But all art is sensual and poetry particularly so. It doesn't declaim or explain, it presents.
beginning delights imagination neither nor order seasons usual
There is neither beginning nor end to the imagination but it delights in its own seasons reversing the usual order at will.
history stay
History must stay open, it is all humanity.
begins history
History, history! We fools, what do we know or care? History begins for us with murder and enslavement, not with discovery.