Theodor W. Adorno (1903–1969) German sociologist, philosopher and musicologist known for his critical theory of society
Source: Jargon der Eigentlichkeit [Jargon of Authenticity] (1964), pp. 5-6
“The job of the poet is to use language effectively, his own language, the only language which is to him authentic.”
From A Note on Poetry (circa 1936) quoted in Modern American Poetry (1950) by Louis Untermeyer
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Do you have more details about the quote "The job of the poet is to use language effectively, his own language, the only language which is to him authentic." by William Carlos Williams?
William Carlos Williams83
American poet 1883–1963Related quotes
“I don’t set out to speak a comprehensible language. But my language is authentic.”
Bram van Velde (1895–1981) Dutch painter
1960's, Conversations with Samuel Beckett and Bram van Velde' (1965 - 1969)
Walter Benjamin (1892–1940) German literary critic, philosopher and social critic (1892-1940)
Source: Illuminations: Essays and Reflections
Neil Postman (1931–2003) American writer and academic
Teaching as a Subversive Activity (1969)
Context: Scientific language, which Korzybski used as his model of sane language, is almost exclusively extensional and denotative, or at least tries to be. The language of the mentally ill, most obviously "un-sane," is almost totally intensional and connotative. This is the language that does not correspond to anything "out there," and this is, in fact, how and perhaps even why the user is mentally ill. Korzybski's concern with keeping the conscious "connection" or correspondence between language and verifiable referents is, for all practical purposes, paralleled by the process of psychotherapy. In this process, which is largely "just talk," the purpose is to foster closer and more accurate correspondence between the patient's language and externally verifiable meanings. As a semanticist would say, the process of psychotherapy is aimed at shifting the patient's word choices from those having a highly intensional, connotative meanings to others carrying more denotative meanings. A person suffering from paranoid schizophrenia might use perfectly "correct" English in an unassailably "logical" way, but the problem with his language is that it does not correspond to anything "out there."
Toni Morrison (1931–2019) American writer
Nobel Prize Lecture (1993)
Context: A dead language is not only one no longer spoken or written, it is unyielding language content to admire its own paralysis. Like statist language, censored and censoring. Ruthless in its policing duties, it has no desire or purpose other than maintaining the free range of its own narcotic narcissism, its own exclusivity and dominance. However moribund, it is not without effect for it actively thwarts the intellect, stalls conscience, suppresses human potential. Unreceptive to interrogation, it cannot form or tolerate new ideas, shape other thoughts, tell another story, fill baffling silences.
“Poets are born knowing the language of angels.”
Madeleine L'Engle A Ring of Endless Light
Source: A Ring of Endless Light
Abdullah Öcalan (1949) Founder of the PKK
Source: The Political Thought of Abdullah Ocalan (2017), War and Peace in Kurdistan, p.10
