Archibald MacLeish
The best known poem by Archibald MacLeish (1892–1982), published in 1926, took its title and subject from Horace's work. His poem "Ars Poetica" contains the line "A poem should not mean/but be", which was a classic statement of the modernist aesthetic. The original manuscript of the poem is in the collections of the Library of Congress.
Read more about this topic: Ars Poetica
Famous quotes by archibald macleish:
“The dissenter is every human being at those moments of his life when he resigns momentarily from the herd and thinks for himself.”
—Archibald MacLeish (1892–1982)
“I will not speak of the famous beauty of dead women:
I will say the shape of a leaf lay once on your hair.
Till the world ends and the eyes are out and the mouths broken,
Look! It is there!”
—Archibald MacLeish (1892–1982)
“A poem should be palpable and mute
As a globed fruit,
Dumb
As old medallions to the thumb,”
—Archibald MacLeish (1892–1982)
“America is promises to
Take!
America is promises to
Us
To take them
Brutally
With love but
Take them.”
—Archibald MacLeish (1892–1982)
“Nor now the long light on the sea—
And here face downward in the sun
To feel how swift how secretly
The shadow of the night comes on . . .”
—Archibald MacLeish (1892–1982)