Nuts and bolts

“Poetry is not self-expression. Each of us, of course, has a unique perspective which we hope to communicate. We hope that someone reading it will say, ‘Of course, I knew that all the time but never realized it before.’ On the whole I agree here with Chesterton, who said, ‘The artistic temperament is a disease that affects amateurs.’ ” – W. H. Auden (interviewed by Michael Newman in The Paris Review)