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Narcissus does not fall in love with his reflection because it is beautiful, but because it is his. If it were his beauty that enthralled him, he would be set free in a few years by its fading.
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
Free
Fall
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Narcissus
Doe
Conceited
Years
Fading
Would
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Love
Reflection
Beauty
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Get up very early and get going at once. In fact, work first and wash afterwards.
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One cannot review a bad book without showing off.
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Art is born of humiliation.
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Of all possible subjects, travel is the most difficult for an artist, as it is the easiest for a journalist.
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One rational voice is dumb: over a grave The household of Impulse mourns one dearly loved. Sad is Eros, builder of cities, And weeping anarchic Aphrodite.
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A false enchantment can all too easily last a lifetime.
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A poet's hope: to be, like some valley cheese, local, but prized elsewhere.
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All works of art are commissioned in the sense that no artist can create one by a simple act of will but must wait until what he believes to be a good idea for a work comes to him.
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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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Lost in a haunted wood, Children afraid of the night Who have never been happy or good.
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Literary confessors are contemptible, like beggars who exhibit their sores for money, but not so contemptible as the public that buys their books.
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A person incapable of imaging another world than given to him by his senses would be subhuman, and a person who identifies his imaginary world with the world of sensory fact has become insane.
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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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August for the people and their favourite islands. Daily the steamers sidle up to meet The effusive welcome of the pier.
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But once in a while the odd thing happens Once in a while the dream comes true And the whole pattern of life is altered Once in a while, the moon turns blue
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