Where's this quote from?
July 3, 2009 5:26 AM Subscribe
"The poet writes the history of his own body". Did Thoreau use this sentence, and if he did, where exactly?
I couldn't find the precise source via Google. Lots of people use it, all of them attribute it to Thoreau, but nobody says where it's from.
The earliest reference I found was in "A study of poetry", by Bliss Perry, 1930, full text here. (Again, no precise source given.)
Can you help, Mefites? Any Thoreau experts around?
I couldn't find the precise source via Google. Lots of people use it, all of them attribute it to Thoreau, but nobody says where it's from.
The earliest reference I found was in "A study of poetry", by Bliss Perry, 1930, full text here. (Again, no precise source given.)
Can you help, Mefites? Any Thoreau experts around?
Hmmm, I found this which is also from Bliss Perry.
Passage 12 here contains a similar sentiment and is dated 1867. And passage 46 here is also quite close.
I have gone through all the essays on this site and not found it in the essays, I was using a search term on each of the pages. It is still a rich site about his life and works and seemed worth linking to.
So, I give up for now, it's really strange how no-one attributes it, and I can't beat your Bliss Perry date or source. I wonder if it was adapted from the earlier passages I linked to...
I may well keep looking.
Good luck.
posted by multivalent at 6:20 AM on July 3, 2009
Passage 12 here contains a similar sentiment and is dated 1867. And passage 46 here is also quite close.
I have gone through all the essays on this site and not found it in the essays, I was using a search term on each of the pages. It is still a rich site about his life and works and seemed worth linking to.
So, I give up for now, it's really strange how no-one attributes it, and I can't beat your Bliss Perry date or source. I wonder if it was adapted from the earlier passages I linked to...
I may well keep looking.
Good luck.
posted by multivalent at 6:20 AM on July 3, 2009
Well done languagehat!
posted by multivalent at 6:21 AM on July 3, 2009
posted by multivalent at 6:21 AM on July 3, 2009
41 minutes? Languagehat, you're losing your touch!
posted by The Michael The at 9:12 AM on July 3, 2009
posted by The Michael The at 9:12 AM on July 3, 2009
This thread is closed to new comments.
Sept. 29, 1851: "The poet writes the history of his body."
(Someone around 1920 added "own" and screwed up the quote for the rest of time.)
posted by languagehat at 6:07 AM on July 3, 2009