Cleanth Brooks Born : October 16, 1906 Died : May 10, 1994 Browse All Authors Top 3 quotes by Cleanth Brooks Man's experience is indeed a seamless garment, no part of which can be separated from the rest. Cleanth Brooks seamless garments men The poet wants to ‘say’ something. Why, then, doesn’t he say it directly and fortrightly? Why is he willing to say it only through his metaphors? Through his metaphors, he risks saying it partially and obscurely, and risks saying nothing at all. But the risk must be taken, for direct statement leads to abstraction and threatens to take us out of poetry altogether. Cleanth Brooks risk taken want When we try to describe one person to another …, what do we say? Not usually how or what that person ate, rarely what he wore, only occasionally how he managed his job—no, what we tell is what he said and, if we are good mimics, how he said it. We apparently consider a person's spoken words the true essence of his being. Cleanth Brooks essence trying jobs
