The Primary And Literal Meaning Of The

A Public That Tries To Do Without Criticism, And Asserts That It Knows What It Wants Or Likes, Brutalizes The Arts And Loses Its Cultural Memory. Art For Art's Sake Is A Retreat From Criticism Which Ends In An Impoverishment Of Civilized Life Itself.

Physics Is An Organized Body Of Knowledge About Nature, And A Student Of It Says That He Is Learning Physics, Not Nature. Art, Like Nature, Has To Be Distinguished From The Systematic Study Of It, Which Is Criticism.

Literature Is A Human Apocalypse, Man's Revelation To Man, And Criticism Is Not A Body Of Adjudications, But The Awareness Of That Revelation, The Last Judgement Of Mankind.

Popular Art Is Normally Decried As Vulgar By The Cultivated People Of Its Time; Then It Loses Favor With Its Original Audience As A New Generation Grows Up; Then It Begins To Merge Into The Softer Lighting Of

A Snowflake Is Probably Quite Unconscious Of Forming A Crystal, But What It Does May Be Worth Study Even If We Are Willing To Leave Its Inner Mental Processes Alone.