Tao Te Ching

“Has there ever been a great poet as tempting to laugh at as William Wordsworth? The tradition of mocking him is as old as the tradition of revering him... His downfall was that, convinced as he was of the truths that blossomed from his experience, he finally could not imagine that other people might need convincing... But the intrepidity with which Wordsworth explored his own inner life and the generosity with which he shared it remain more than convincing: even now, they continue to define the highest aspirations of modern poetry.”

— Adam Kirsch 1976 CE –
from The New Yorker