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I used to try and concentrate the poem so much that there wasn't a word that wasn't essential. This leads to becoming boring and constipated.
W. H. Auden
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W. H. Auden
Age: 66 †
Born: 1907
Born: February 21
Died: 1973
Died: September 28
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Jórvík
Wystan Hugh Auden
Wystan Auden
Wystan H Auden
W. H. Wystan Hugh Auden
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Wasn
Constipated
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Concentrate
Used
Poem
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The critical opinions of a writer should always be taken with a large grain of salt. For the most part, they are manifestations of his debate with himself as to what he should do next and what he should avoid.
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The parlour cars and Pullmans are packed also with scented assassins, salad-eaters who murder on milk.
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There is no love There are only the various envies, all of them sad.
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God is Love, we are taught as children to believe. But when we first begin to get some inkling of how He loves us, we are repelled it seems so cold, indeed, not love at all as we understand the word.
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Why doesn't the United States take over the monarchy and unite with England? England does have important assets. Naturally the longer you wait, the more they will dwindle. At least you could use it for a summer resort instead of Maine.
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Be subtle, various, ornamental, clever, And do not listen to those critics ever Whose crude provincial gullets crave in books Plain cooking made still plainer by plain cooks.
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Harrow the house of the dead look shining at New styles of architecture, a change of heart.
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Detective stories have nothing to do with works of art.
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We do not change as we grow up. The difference between the child and the adult is that the former doesn't know who he is and the latter does.
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Most people enjoy the sight of their own handwriting as they enjoy the smell of their own farts.
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Encased in talent like a uniform, The rank of every poet is well known They can amaze us like a thunderstorm, Or die so young, or live for years alone.
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The most important truths are likely to be those which society at that time least wants to hear.
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Words are for those with promises to keep.
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What we have not named as a symbol escapes our notice.
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Behind the corpse in the reservoir, behind the ghost on the links, Behind the lady who dances and the man who madly drinks, Under the look of fatigue, the attack of migraine and the sigh There is always another story, there is more than meets the eye.
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The definition of prayer is paying careful and concentrated attention to something other than your own constructions.
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There must always be two kinds of art: escape-art, for man needs escape as he needs food and deep sleep, and parable-art, that art which shall teach man to unlearn hatred and learn love.
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Desire, even in its wildest tantrums, can neither persuade me it is love nor stop me from wishing it were.
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