And would it have been worth it, after all, Would it have been worth while, After the sunsets and the dooryards and the sprinkled streets, After the novels, after the teacups, after the skirts that trail along the floor— And this, and so much more? — It is impossible to say just what I mean!
But as if a magic lantern threw the nerves in patterns on a screen: Would it have been worth while If one, settling a pillow or throwing off a shawl, And turning toward the window, should say: “That is not it at all, That is not what I meant, at all.”
─T. S. Eliot，詩人、劇作家，諾貝爾文學獎得主。《The Cocktail Party》，1949。
「差勁的詩人總是注意到不該注意的事情，把詩弄得好像很『私人』。但詩不是情感的宣洩，而是情感的逃避。不是個性的表達，而是個性的逃避。當然，只有真的擁有個性跟情感的人才知道為什麼會想要逃離這兩種東西。」
─T. S. Eliot，〈Tradition and the Individual Talent〉，1919。
Would it have been worth while,
After the sunsets and the dooryards and the sprinkled streets,
After the novels, after the teacups, after the skirts that trail along the floor—
And this, and so much more? —
It is impossible to say just what I mean!
Would it have been worth while
If one, settling a pillow or throwing off a shawl,
And turning toward the window, should say:
“That is not it at all,
That is not what I meant, at all.”