America is a lunatic asylum.
Any general statement is like a check drawn on a bank. Its value depends on what is there to meet it.
Poetry is about as much a 'criticism of life' as red-hot iron is a criticism of fire.
Literature does not exist in a vacuum. Writers as such have a definite social function exactly proportional to their ability as writers. This is their main use.
Use no superfluous word, no adjective, which does not reveal something.
Usura slayeth the child in the womb It stayeth the young man's courting It hath brought palsey to bed, lyeth between the young bride and her bridegroom