Allen Tate

Allen Tate

John Orley Allen Tate (November 19, 1899 – February 9, 1979) was an American poet, essayist, social commentator, and Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1943 to 1944.

Read more about Allen Tate:  Life, Literary Work, Political Writing

Famous quotes by allen tate:

    A spade is not a spade, and it is just
    That any tremulous twisting of her lips
    Should be mere prettiness, or call it grace
    The canto amoroso of her hips.
    Allen Tate (1899–1979)

    And I have seen long fingers that would stare
    With fiery eyes, and then the eyes would crawl
    Deftly across the counterpane and fall
    Soundless, with a wink of mild despair.
    Allen Tate (1899–1979)

    because your clamorous blood
    Beats an impermanent rest
    You think the dead arise
    Westward and fabulous:
    The dead are those whose lies
    Were doors to a narrow house.
    Allen Tate (1899–1979)

    Dignity’s the stain
    Of mortal sin that knows humility.
    Allen Tate (1899–1979)

    Three centuries of piety
    Grown bare as a cottonwood tree ...
    Allen Tate (1899–1979)