Irresistable Quotation from a Human Critic

"What is a poet?

"An unhappy man who in
his heart harbors
a deep anguish,
but whose lips are so fashioned
that the moans and cries
which pass over them
are transformed
into ravishing music.

"His fate
is like
that of the unfortunate victims
whom the tyrant Phalatis imprisoned
in a brazen bull,
and slowly tortured
over a steady fire;
their cries
could not reach the tyrant's ears
so as to strike terror into his heart;
when
they reached
his ears they sounded like sweet music.

"And men crowd about the poet
and say to him,
'Sing for us soon again'--
which is as much as to say,
'May new sufferings
torment your soul,
but may your lips
be fashioned as before;
for
the cries
would only distress us,
but the music,
the music is delightful.'

"And the critics
come forward and say,
'That is perfectly done--
just as it should be,
according to the rules of aesthetics.'

"Now
it is understood
that a critic resembles a poet
to a hair;
he only lacks
the anguish
in his heart
and the music upon his lips.

"I tell you,
I would rather
be a swineherd,
understood by the swine,
than a poet misunderstood by men."

from: Either/Or by Soren Kierkegaard
Translation: David F. Swenson and Lillian Marvin Swenson
line breaks: I