"Poet's Creed" Borges

- Creed: A formal statement of religious belief; a confession of faith.

- Borges doubts readers will see creed as useful; says he should be considered a reader as opposed to a writer. That which he reads is more significant than that which has written.

- Recalls memory of father. 60 years ago; father’s personal library in South America. Father reciting text from “Ode to a Nightingale”. Borges later gathered that the mortal exists because he has distinct recollection of an age before his lifetime and can foresee a future beyond his lifetime. First encounter with poetry.

- Asserts man’s great expanse of existence can be reduced to the moment when he first comprehends who he is and what destined path he will forever follow.
o Ex: Judas kisses Jesus, realizes his role as a traitor and realizes the evil in his own destiny.
o Ex: Red Badge of Courage, protagonist realizes himself to be either courageous or cowardly individual.

- At the core of Borges’ life are words; seeks to weave words into poetry. Still, the greatest happiness can only be derived from being primarily a reader.

- Arabian Nights important to Borges; conjures feelings of great freedom.
- Huckleberry Finn; simple framework is agreeable to the imagination, therefore pleasing.

- Recalls memory of being an intentionally unhappy young man who stumbled upon an extremely happy writer; Walt Whitman. Whitman’s writings made Borges ashamed of his unhappiness.
o Also came across works of Thomas Carlyle. Inspired to study German, thereby encountering many revered German writers.

- Don Quixote and Sherlock Holmes; Borges believes in the characters but cannot bring himself to believe in their adventures and dialogue.

- Also came across Old English; its harshness seemed to contain a certain beauty and depth. Borges says perhaps there really was no beauty and literary depth, but “if the feeling comes through to you, it should be sufficient”.

- Poe, Wilde, Baudelaire were substantial writers of his boyhood; very much impressed by their writings as a young boy. But an aged, graying reader would be discomforted by these same writings.

- Finds profundity in metaphors, including those of Robert Frost. “For I have promises to keep” passage and “O luminary Clock against the sky” passage.

- Moby-Dick; Borges believes in the parable, but not Captain Ahab or his clash with the great whale. The parable itself is obscure though, may be about the struggle against evil or wrong way of fighting evil. Still, the book was highly pleasing.

- Recalls Gnostics saying the only way to rid oneself of the sin is to commit it, because of the repentance. Likens this to writing. May produce 5 pages of pleasurable literature only after he produces 15 intolerable volumes. Years of deliberation and trial/error in the meantime.

- Free verse and prose more challenging than regular/classic poetic forms in that there is not pre-determined pattern. Yet the human mind still has expectations of the text form.
o Failing to meet these textural expectations is failing to deliver satisfaction. Patterned forms have pre-determined end and rhymes are finite. Free verse, however, can potentially be infinite.

- Recalls mistakes he made as young, aspiring writer.
o Failed to see that Carlyle and Whitman had attained the perfection of prose and verse; simply decided that their styles were the only acceptable styles.
o Initially strove to come off as 17th century Spanish writer, knowledgeable in Latin; only out for literature awards.
o Initially strove to be noticeably modern. Realizes “We are modern by the very simple fact that we live in the present”. One can never harness the art of living in the past, nor harness the art of being a futurist in a time which has yet to be invented.

- Acknowledges himself to be a writers; this just means he is being true to his imagination.

- Marvels at histories of Indian philosophy; they treat even the most dated works as contemporary pieces, translating with contemporary terms/jargon. Hence, they truly believe in philosophy and poetry; “that things beautiful once can go on being beautiful still”.

- In writing, desires to be loyal to the dream rather than the circumstances. All true stories require a bit of untruth when put onto paper. Otherwise, the writer is a journalist rather than an artist. And if the writer lacks true knowledge of the circumstances, that is fine.
o Ex: Gibbon’s telling f the fall of the Roman Empire. May include a bit of fabrication, but no other telling could have been so pleasing.

- When writing, both the writer and reader are fictional. Only that which the writer conveys is significant.
o As a young writer, Borges believed in expression. Now aged, he believes in allusion.
o Writers can only allude, only prompt the reader to imagine and expand on the text.

- When writing, he does not seek to understand his work. Attempting to come off as intelligent spoils work. Being self-conscious and attempting to identify oneself as a writer spoils work.

- When writing, he forgets about himself and his personal circumstances. Someone may produce a piece and deem it insignificant. But to a particular reader, it may be astounding.
o Hence, it is the audience that enriches books and lectures. Without the audience, these books and lectures are perhaps useless.