“All that the man of genius demands for his exaltation is moral matter in motion. It makes no difference whither tends the motion — whether for him or against him.”

Asserting that genius thrives on the movement of moral forces regardless of direction · Marginalia

• Genius
• Morality
• Motion

“I hold that a long poem does not exist. I maintain that the phrase, “a long poem,” is simply a flat contradiction in terms.”

Arguing that poetic intensity cannot be sustained indefinitely · Essay on poetics, published 1850

• Art
• Poetry

“The struggle to apprehend the supernal Loveliness has given to the world all that which it has ever been enabled at once to understand and to feel as poetic.”

Linking poetic creation with humanity’s longing for an ideal beauty · Essay on poetics, published 1850

• Art
• Beauty
• Poetry