“Never has poetry tried so hard to be prose as at the present time in America.”

Rejecting the collapse of poetic form into ordinary prose · Preface, Trails Sunward (1917)

• Art
• Poetry

“The realist, stressing truth to life and minimizing restraint as to method or material, finds himself blamed for mistaking the mere raw material of life for ultimate art, and so for praising the sordid or commonplace.”

Summarising realism's pursuit of truth to life and its artistic risk · Preface, Wraiths and Realities (1918)

• Art
• Poetry
• Truth

“We must get rid of the "twilight zone" around poetry in which irresponsible criticism can ambush mere likes and dislikes.”

Calling for firmer standards against purely subjective criticism · Preface, Shadowy Thresholds (1919)

• Poetry
• Truth