The Props to Help Man Endure
Until he does so, he labors under a curse. He writes not of love but of lust, of defeats in which nobody loses anything of value, of victories without hope and, worst of all, without pity or compassion. His griefs grieve on no universal bones, leaving no scars. He writes not of the heart but of the glands.
Until he relearns these things, he will write as though he stood among and watched the end of man. I decline to accept the end of man. It is easy enough to say that man is immortal simply because he will endure: that when the last ding-dong of doom has clanged and faded from the last worthless rock hanging tideless in the last red and dying evening, that even then there will still be one more sound: that of his puny inexhaustible voice, still talking. I refuse to accept this. I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance.
The poet's, the writer's, duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past. The poet's voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.
把情慾而不是把愛情當作寫作題材，把失敗當作寫作題材，描寫的是沒有任何人損失任何價值東西的微不足到的失敗，把勝利當作題材時，描寫的是沒有任何希望的勝利，而最糟糕的是沒有憐憫和同情。悲傷不是刻骨銘心的，而是清淡描寫。寫的不是心靈而是分泌腺體的器官。
在人們從新瞭解這些之前，他們的寫作態度就像無可奈何看着世界的.末日到來。我拒絕接受世界末日的觀點。不是簡單地說人類能夠持續就說人類是永恆的；當命運的最後鐘聲敲響，當傍晚的最後一抹紅色從平靜無浪的礁石退去，甚至不在有其他聲音，人類的無盡的不倦聲音還在爭鳴，我不認輸。我認爲人類不僅會延續還會勝利。他是永生的，不是因爲只有他在萬物生靈中擁有不倦的聲音，而在於他有靈魂，能夠同情、犧牲和忍受的靈魂。
詩人和作家的職責就是歌頌這些。通過提升人類的心靈，提醒他們牢記勇敢、榮譽、希望、尊嚴和同情這些昔日的光榮，來幫助人類生存下去，這是作家的榮幸。詩人的聲音不僅是人類的簡單記錄，而且還是能夠幫助人類持續和獲勝的支柱之一。
