Among friends one has the privilege of saying nothing; the civility consists in the assumption that one's silence will be civilly understood. I can imagine a small gathering of friends who say nothing all evening: they recoil from saying anything that the others don't want to hear; and their silence would be the subtlest courtesy.

Allen Tate

Categorized in : Friendship Gathering Silence

Men expect too much, do too little. by Allen Tate

Men expect too much, do too little.

too-much littles men

Poets are mysterious, but a poet when all is said is not much mor... by Allen Tate

Poets are mysterious, but a poet when all is said is not much more mysterious than a banker.

mysterious poetry bankers

So face with calm that heritage by Allen Tate

So face with calm that heritage

calm age faces

The mission for the day is to encourage students to think beyond traditional career opportunities, prepare for future careers and entrance into the workplace.

encouragement opportunity thinking

I have felt darkness lead me by the hand by Allen Tate

I have felt darkness lead me by the hand

singing darkness hands

We are afraid that we have not lived. by Allen Tate

We are afraid that we have not lived.

not-afraid dying

So the poet, who wants to be something that he cannot be, and is a failure in plain life, makes up fictitious versions of his predicament that are interesting even to other persons because nobody is a perfect automobile salesman.

perfect want interesting

Culture is the study of perfection, and the constant effort to ac... by Allen Tate

Culture is the study of perfection, and the constant effort to achieve it.

effort perfection culture

Venus knows country matters: country knows Venus: by Allen Tate

Venus knows country matters: country knows Venus:

venus boys country

In a manner of speaking, the poem is its own knower, neither poet nor reader knowing anything that the poem says apart from the words of the poem.

poet knowing talking

The twilight is long fingers and black hair. by Allen Tate

The twilight is long fingers and black hair.

twilight hair long

But we shall not know the world by looking at it; we know it by l... by Allen Tate

But we shall not know the world by looking at it; we know it by looking at the hovering fly.

hovering knows world

For some reason most critics have a hard time fixing their minds directly under their noses, and before they see the object that is there they use a telescope upon the horizon to see where it came from.

horizon hard-times mind

Serious poetry deals with the fundamental conflicts that cannot be logically resolved: we can state the conflicts rationally, but reason does not relieve us of them.

serious fundamentals doe

Peering, I heard the hooves come down the hill. by Allen Tate

Peering, I heard the hooves come down the hill.

horse leader faces

Row after row with strict impunity by Allen Tate

Row after row with strict impunity

yield names wind

What is the flesh and blood compounded ofBut a few moments in the life of time?This prowling of the cells, litigious love,Wears the long claw of flesh-arguing crime.

cells long blood

I thought I heard the dark pounding its head by Allen Tate

I thought I heard the dark pounding its head

cry rocks dark

All the sea-gods are dead. by Allen Tate

All the sea-gods are dead.

venus sea home

Struck in the wet mire by Allen Tate

Struck in the wet mire

four cities league