Allen Tate Quotes

A collection of quotes by Allen Tate.

Allen Tate was an American poet, essayist, and social commentator, born on November 19, 1899, in Winchester, Kentucky. He began his literary career as a part of the Fugitives, a group of Southern poets and critics, who aimed to revive interest in the literary traditions of the American South. Tate is often associated with the New Criticism movement, a literary theory that focused on close textual analysis and emphasized the poem as an autonomous work of art.

Tate published numerous collections of poetry throughout his career, including "Mr. Pope and Other Poems" (1928) and "Poems, 1928-1931" (1932). His poetry often explored themes of love, faith, and the complexities of human nature. He also authored several critical essays and biographies, notably his work on Romantic poet John Keats.

In addition to his contributions to literature, Tate was a renowned educator and served as a professor at various universities, including the University of Minnesota and Princeton University. His intellectual pursuits and scholarly endeavors earned him numerous awards and honors, including the Bollingen Prize for Poetry.

Allen Tate passed away on February 9, 1979, leaving behind a rich and influential body of work. He remains recognized as one of the preeminent voices of American modernist poetry and an influential figure in the development of literary criticism.

So the poet, who wants to be something that he cannot be, an

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.

Allen Tate

Failure

Dramatic experience is not logical it may be subdued to the

Dramatic experience is not logical it may be subdued to the kind of coherence that we indicate when we speak, in criticism, of form.

Allen Tate

Experience

I am not ridiculing verbal mechanisms, dreams, or repression

I am not ridiculing verbal mechanisms, dreams, or repressions as origins of poetry all three of them and more besides may have a great deal to do with it.

Allen Tate

Dreams

Serious poetry deals with the fundamental conflicts that can

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.

Allen Tate

Poetry

There is probably nothing wrong with art for art's sake if w

There is probably nothing wrong with art for art's sake if we take the phrase seriously, and not take it to mean the kind of poetry written in England forty years ago.

Allen Tate

Poetry

How does one happen to write a poem: where does it come from

How does one happen to write a poem: where does it come from? That is the question asked by the psychologists or the geneticists of poetry.

Allen Tate

Poetry

Religion is the sole technique for the validating of values.

Religion is the sole technique for the validating of values.

Allen Tate

Value