The other kind of major artist is engaged in perpetual endeavors. The first type is interested in finding out what the masterpiece will be, the second is more interested in discovering how to tackle a new problem and is not concerned about whether the work will succeed. Shakespeare is always prepared to risk failure. Well don't quite come off, whereas almost every poem of Housman does. But if we don't understand these plays, we won't understand the great tragedies.
Zeal is more important than technique.
In literary tradition there are always obstacles to love. For the intoxicant of romantic love to remain effective it is essential that the relationship not change into something else, dwindle into friendship or domestic, married love, for example, with its ties to the community. No, something must come between the lovers that prevents their union. . . . If people marry on the assumption that love must always overcome obstacles, they will either become unfaithful or they will make things difficult. There are other ways of discovering oneself, but in our time falling in love seems the commonest.