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Jean Cocteau
French poet, writer, artist, and filmmaker
WORDS ABOUT WORDS
The greatest masterpiece in literature is only a dictionary out of order.
—Jean Cocteau, French poet, writer, artist, and filmmaker

Posted on April 18, 1998 at 7:47 AM

WORDS ABOUT WORDS

Such is the role of poetry. It unveils, in the strict sense of the word. It lays bare, under a light which shakes off torpor, the surprising things which surround us and which our senses record mechanically.
—Jean Cocteau, Le Rappel à l'Ordre

Posted on January 31, 2001 at 10:43 PM

WORDS ABOUT WORDS

With the writer, line takes precedence over form and content. It runs through the words he assembles. It strikes a continuous note unperceived by ear or eye. It is, in a way, the soul's style, and if the line ceases to have a life of its own, if it only describes an arabesque, the soul is missing and the writing dies.
—Jean Cocteau, The Difficulty of Being

Posted on February 19, 2001 at 6:43 PM

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