"So, ungentle reader, (as you and I value what we should ashamed—after witnessing a few minor circus-marvels—to call our "lives,") let us never be fooled into taking seriously that perfectly superficial distinction which is vulgarly drawn between the circus-show and "art" or "the arts." Let us not forget that every authentic "work of art" is in and of itself alive and that, however "the arts" may differ among themselves, their common function is the expression of that supreme alive-ness which is known as "beauty." This being so, our three ring circus is art—for to contend that the spectacle in question is not an authentic manifestation of "beauty" is as childish, as to dismiss the circus on the ground that it is "childish," is idiotic."
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Anti-communists from the United StatesEssayists from the United StatesUnitarians from the United StatesPainters from the United StatesPlaywrights from the United States
Original Language: English
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"The Adult, the Artist and the Circus" in Vanity Fair (October 1925)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/E._E._Cummings
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E. E. Cummings
Edward Estlin Cummings (October 14 1894 – September 3 1962), commonly known as e e cummings or E. E. Cummings, was an American poet, painter, essayist, author, and playwright.
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