These Songs are not meant to be understood, you understand. They are only meant to terrify & comfort.
John BerrymanThe artist is extremely lucky who is presented with the worst possible ordeal which will not actually kill him. At that point, he's in business.
John BerrymanSo if I were talking to a young writer, I would recommend the cultivation of extreme indifference to both praise and blame because praise will lead you to vanity, and blame will lead you to self-pity, and both are bad for writers.
John Berryman