“A craftsman knows in advance what the finished result will be, while the artist knows only what it will be when he has finished it.”

— W. H. Auden , book Forewords and Afterwords

"A Poet of the Actual", p. 265
Forewords and Afterwords (1973)
Context: A craftsman knows in advance what the finished result will be, while the artist knows only what it will be when he has finished it. But it is unbecoming in an artist to talk about inspiration; that is the reader's business.

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W. H. Auden 122

Anglo-American poet 1907–1973

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“A craftsman knows in advance what the finished result will be, while the artist knows only what it will be when he has finished it.”

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W. H. Auden 122

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