“I had come to feel that poetic literature must contain streams from one or the other of these two sources: the Greek and the Hebrew.”

Reflecting on the Western literary inheritance he received in his education · Essay, Poetry and Culture, introduction to The Jade Mountain (1929)

• Art
• Poetry

“The sense of poetry as a natural and solacing part of life has lasted among the Chinese people.”

Presenting poetry as consolation woven naturally into ordinary existence · Essay, Poetry and Culture, introduction to The Jade Mountain (1929)

• Hope
• Poetry

“Wordsworth, of our poets, comes closest to the Chinese; but their poetry cleaves even nearer to nature than his.”

Comparing Chinese poetic directness with Wordsworth's celebrated intimacy with nature · Essay, Poetry and Culture, introduction to The Jade Mountain (1929)

• Nature
• Poetry