“Poetry has a small audience, but a large influence.”

On the quiet but lasting reach of poetry · Calling Western Union (1936)

• Influence
• Poetry
• Readers

“Self-sufficiency is a myth, of course, but after thirty, if one is a serious-minded egoist (i.e., artist) it becomes more and more necessary.”

On the practical independence required of the mature artist · Autobiographical essay, Poet Out of Pioneer (1927)

• Artists
• Independence
• Self

“Marriage is the only profound human experience; all other human angles are its mere rehearsal.”

Acknowledging marriage's depth while still finding it insufficient · Autobiographical essay, Poet Out of Pioneer (1927)

• Experience
• Marriage
• Relationships

“It is better to work hard than to be married hard.”

Prioritising creative labour over the demands of marriage · Autobiographical essay, Poet Out of Pioneer (1927)

• Artists
• Marriage
• Work

“Am I the Christian gentlewoman my mother slaved to make me? No indeed. I am a poet, a wine-bibber, a radical; a non-churchgoer who will no longer sing in the choir or lead prayer-meeting with a testimonial.”

Rejecting inherited gentility in favour of an independent artistic life · Autobiographical essay, Poet Out of Pioneer (1927)

• Identity
• Poetry
• Rebellion