“There is a small, material, mechanical part in every work of man, which true, original inspiration scorns in its ardent moments of rapture.”

Original: Hay una parte mecánica, pequeña y material en todas las obras del hombre, que la primitiva, la verdadera inspiración desdeña en sus ardientes momentos de arrebato. — Bécquer distinguishes the mysterious impulse of inspiration from the later mechanical labour of making art. · Letter II, Cartas literarias a una mujer (Spanish)

• Craft
• Creation
• Inspiration

“There are notes in the poet's intelligence that belong to that of woman, and these are the ones that express tenderness, passion and feeling.”

Original: En la escala de la inteligencia del poeta hay notas que pertenecen á la de la mujer, y éstas son las que expresan la ternura, la pasión y el sentimiento. — He places tenderness and emotional sensitivity at the heart of poetic intelligence. · Letter I, Cartas literarias a una mujer (Spanish)

• Feeling
• Poetry
• Tenderness

“The one who feels seizes an idea, clothes it in a form, casts it into the realm of knowledge, and passes on.”

Original: El que la siente se apodera de una idea, la envuelve en una forma, la arroja en el estadio del saber y pasa. — The poet transforms an inward perception into artistic form without claiming to explain it completely. · Letter I, Cartas literarias a una mujer (Spanish)

• Creation
• Expression
• Poetry