SOURCE: Wilbur, Richard. “The Genie in the Bottle.” In Mid-Century American Poets, John Ciardi, pp. 1-7. New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc., 1950.

In the following essay, Richard Wilbur, at the time a young poet, discusses his “working principles” in writing and understanding poetry.

Before answering the present questionnaire, I should like to say that I have certain reservations about it. For one thing, I think artists do well not to talk too much about art, their natural language being that of their media, and not that of abstract analysis. A writer who talks too much about writing runs the risk of becoming a Literary Figure. For another thing, I mistrust most “statements of principles” by artists, since they are necessarily in the nature of apologia. Works of art can almost never be truthfully described as applications of principles. They are not coerced into being by rational principles, but spring...