“The fact is that in such cases the temperament comes first, the theory…” — Conrad Aiken

“The fact is that in such cases the temperament comes first, the theory afterwards.”

Suggesting that artistic theories often rationalise instincts already present in the artist · Essay, Poetic Realism: Carl Sandburg, Scepticisms (1919)

Conrad Aiken

About Conrad Aiken

5 August 1889–17 August 1973

The story of Conrad Potter Aiken (August 5, 1889 – August 17, 1973) reads like something from a Gothic novel, yet it is the true foundation upon which one of twentieth-century America's most psychologically complex poets built his life and work. Born into comfortable circumstances in Savannah, Georgia, Aiken seemed…

More by Conrad Aiken