I Can Imagine No Society Which Does

But All Categories Of Art, Idealistic Or Realistic, Surrealistic Or Constructivist (a New Form Of Idealism) Must Satisfy A Simple Test (or They Are In No Sense Works Of Art): They Must Persist As Objects Of Contemplation.

This Is The Essential Distinction--even Opposition--between The Painting And The Film: The Painting Is Composed Subjectively, Thefilm Objectively. However Highly We Rate The Function Of The Scenario Writer--in Actual Practice It Is Rated Very Low--we Must Recognize That The Film Is Not Transposed Directly And Freely From The Mind By Means Of A Docile Medium Like Paint, But Must Be Cut Piece-meal Out Of The Lumbering Material Of The Actual Visible World.

The Modern Poet Has No Essential Alliance With Regular Schemes Of Any Sorts.he Reserves The Right To Adapt His Rhythm To His Mood, To Modulate His Metre As He Progresses. Far From Seeking Freedom And Irresponsibility (implied By The Unfortunate Term Free Verse) He Seeks A Stricter Discipline Of Exact Concord Of Thought And Feeling.

Art Is Not And Never Has Been Subordinate To Moral Values. Moral Values Are Social Values; Aesthetic Values Are Human Values. Morality Seeks To Restrain The Feelings; Art Seeks To Define Them By Externalizing Them, By Giving Them Significant Form. Morality Has Only One Aim - The Ideal Good; Art Has Quite Another Aim - The Objective Truth... Art Never Changes.

The Characteristic Political Attitude Of Today Is Not One Of Positive Belief, But Of Despair.