Eli Siegel Quotes

Eli Siegel was the poet, critic, and educator who founded Aesthetic Realism, the philosophy that states: “The world, art, and self explain each other: each is the aesthetic oneness of opposites.” An idea central to Aesthetic Realism—that every person, place or thing in reality has something in common with all other things—was expressed in his award-winning poem "Hot Afternoons Have Been in Montana".

Two highly acclaimed volumes of poetry were published during his lifetime, and in 1958 he was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.

Siegel's philosophic works include Self and World: An Explanation of Aesthetic Realism and Definitions, and Comment: Being a Description of the World. His teaching of Aesthetic Realism spanned almost four decades and included thousands of extemporaneous lectures on poetry, the arts and sciences, religion, economics, and national ethics, as well as lessons to individuals and general classes which showed that questions of everyday life are aesthetic and ethical.

His lecture on the poetry of William Carlos Williams, which Williams attended, is published in The Williams-Siegel Documentary and his lectures on Henry James's The Turn of the Screw were edited into a critical consideration titled James and the Children.

Siegel's philosophy, and his statement, "The world, art, and self explain each other: each is the aesthetic oneness of opposites", has influenced artists, scientists, and educators. Wikipedia  

✵ 16. August 1902 – 8. November 1978
Eli Siegel photo
Eli Siegel: 19   quotes 2   likes

Famous Eli Siegel Quotes

“No self can truly know itself and be ashamed.”

Self and World (1957)

“Aesthetics is related to every particular conflict; to everyday conflict.”

Everything Has to Do with Hardness and Softness (1969)

“Aesthetics is the one fundamental means a person has of liking himself.”

Everything Has to Do with Hardness and Softness (1969)

“All art puts separateness and togetherness together. All selves want to do this.”

Everything Has to Do with Hardness and Softness (1969)

Eli Siegel Quotes about personality

Eli Siegel Quotes

“Poetry, like Art, is the oneness of the permanent opposites in reality as seen by an individual.”

Definition 18 (c) Definition Press, (New York: Definition Press, 1964)

“Don't shake the hand of reality with one finger.”

Damned Welcome: Aesthetic Realism Maxims, Definition Press 1964

“In reality opposites are one; art shows this.”

Everything Has to Do with Hardness and Softness (1969)

“Shadows…bring softness to every thing. An object and its shadow are softness and hardness.”

Everything Has to Do with Hardness and Softness (1969)

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