H. Auden
H. Auden
forgiveness party unique
Murder is unique in that it abolishes the party it injures, so that society has to take the place of the victim and on his behalf demand atonement or grant forgiveness; it is the one crime in which society has a direct interest.
earth needs mankind
Soft as the earth is mankind and both need to be altered.
political language corruption
As a poet, there is only one political duty, and that is to defend one's language from corruption.
heart men errors
The windiest militant trash Important Persons shout Is not so crude as our wish: What mad Nijinsky wrote About Diaghilev Is true of the normal heart; For the error bred in the bone Of each woman and each man Craves what it cannot have; Not universal love But to be loved alone.