Conscience is the fountainhead of all the arts, and so of poetry, as Wallace Stevens tells it:
Individual poets, whatever their imperfections may be, are driven all their lives by that inner companion of the conscience which is, after all, the genius of poetry in their hearts and minds. I speak of a companion of conscience because to every faithful poet the faithful poem is an act of conscience. (Quoted from Opus Posthumous: Poems, Plays, Prose, by Wallace Stevens. 1990. Random House.)
For a brief biography of Wallace Stevens, click here.
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