“I am not a poet. I am a historian.”

Presenting his poetry as a record of historical experience and consciousness · Conversation, as reported in biographical accounts

• Memory
• Poetry
• Time

“I have no objection to being called a historical poet.”

Accepting the connection between his verse and the past he inhabited imaginatively · Conversation / critical statement, as commonly attributed

• History
• Memory
• Poetry

“I have tried to write about things which are not entirely foreign to me.”

Emphasizing lived experience as the basis of artistic truth · Prose statement on his poetic method

• Art
• Memory
• Truth