"A good poem is a tautology. It expands one word by adding a number which clarify it, thus making a new word which has never before been spoken. The seed-word is always so ordinary that hardly anyone perceives it. Classical odes grow from and or because, romantic lyrics from but or if. Immature verses expand a personal pronoun ad nauseam, the greatest works bring glory to a common verb."
Alasdair Gray

January 1, 1970

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Original Language: English

Sources

"Prometheus", pp. 208-9

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alasdair_Gray