The art of writing is mysterious; the opinions we hold are ephemeral , and I prefer the Platonic idea of the Muse to that of Poe, who reasoned, or feigned to reason, that the writing of a poem is an act of the intelligence. It never fails to amaze me that the classics hold a romantic theory of poetry, and a romantic poet a classical theory.
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That high All-seer which I dallied with Hath turned my feigned prayer on my head, And given in earnest what I begged in jest.
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Dear as remembered kisses after death, And sweet as those by hopeless fancy feigned...
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The surest defense against Evil is extreme individualism, originality of thinking, whimsicality, even-if you will-eccentricity. That is, something that can't be feigned, faked, imitated; something even a seasoned imposter couldn't be happy with.
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True glory strikes root, and even extends itself; all false pretensions fall as do flowers, nor can any feigned thing be lasting
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