The greatest masterpiece in literature is only a dictionary out of order.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree.
The best books arise from some ultimate question in the author.
The words that come direct from the people are the greatest... If you substitute one out of your own vocabulary, it disappears before your eyes.
Poetry: the best words in the best order.
The most powerful words in English are 'Tell me a story,' words that are intimately related to the complexity of history, the origins of language, the continuity of the species, the taproot of our humanity, our singularity, and art itself.
This is not writing at all. Indeed, I could say that Shakespeare surpasses literature altogether, if I knew what I meant.
We recognise in the finished art, which is the result of these conditions, the best words in the best order - poetry; and to put this essential poetry into different classes is impossible.
I think what matters most in literary work is the context, not the text.
I say that glorious prose is a fine and laudable thing, but without an enthralling story, it's just so much verbal tapioca. Simply put, the best books have both, and the best writers disparage neither.
All great works of literature either dissolve a genre or invent one.