Allen Tate
Allen Tate
John Orley Allen Tate, known professionally as Allen Tate, was an American poet, essayist, social commentator, and Poet Laureate from 1943 to 1944...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth19 November 1899
CountryUnited States of America
Allen Tate quotes about
dog lying eye
The idiot greens the meadow with his eyes, The meadow creeps implacable and still; A dog barks, the hammock swings, he lies. One two three the cows bulge on the hill.
twilight hair long
The twilight is long fingers and black hair.
fall twilight eye
And I have seen long fingers that would stare With fiery eyes, and then the eyes would crawl Deftly across the counterpane and fall Soundless, with a wink of mild despair.
twilight space sight
Punctilious abyss, the yawn of space Come once a day to suffocate the sight.
shadow shade fit
The torrent of the reaching shade Broke shadow into all its parts, What then had been of shadow made Found exigence in fits and starts....
fashion men skills
Men expect too much, do too little, Put the contraption before the accomplishment, Lack skill of the interior mind To fashion dignity with shapes of air. Luxury, yes but not elegance!
particular knows
We know the particular poem, not what it says that we can restate.
written
What is the poem, after it is written? That is the question. Not where it came from or why.
drama mean conflict
Experience means conflict, our natures being what they are, and conflict means drama.
experience criticism may
Dramatic experience is not logical; it may be subdued to the kind of coherence that we indicate when we speak, in criticism, of form.
psychological theory deals
Other psychological theories say a good deal about compensation.
honor twelve three
At twelve I was determined to shoot only For honor; at twenty not to shoot at all; I know at thirty-three that one must shoot As often as one gets the rare chance - In killing there is more than commentary.
two quality may
A poem may be an instance of morality, of social conditions, of psychological history; it may instance all its qualities, but never one of them alone, nor any two or three; never less than all.
perfection effort culture
Culture is the study of perfection, and the constant effort to achieve it.