What is an adjective? Nouns name the world. Verbs activate … - Anne Carson

" "
What is an adjective? Nouns name the world. Verbs activate the names. Adjectives come from somewhere else. The word adjective (epitheton in Greek) is itself an adjective meaning 'placed on top', 'added', 'appended', 'foreign'. Adjectives seem fairly innocent additions, but look again. These small imported mechanisms are in charge of attaching everything in the world to its place in particularity. They are the latches of being.

Anne Carson

Autobiography of Red: A Novel in Verse · August 1, 1999 Verified in 1 source Sign up to see the complete provenance

language words

English

Collect this quote

About Anne Carson

Anne Carson (born June 21, 1950) is a Canadian poet, and professor of Classics and comparative literature at the University of Michigan.

Biography information from Wikiquote

Also Known As

Alternative Names: Anne Patricia Carson

All quotes from Anne Carson Similar Quotes by other Originators

Originators like Anne Carson:

Margaret Atwood Anne Sexton Virginia Woolf Louise Glück James Joyce

Additional quotes by Anne Carson

H of H: I cannot rise. Too heavy with filth and sin.

Th: Give me your hand.

H of H: I'll stain you.

Th: I'll take it.

...I am talking about evil.

It blooms.
It eats.
It grins.

I am a restrained person.
Otherwise my heart would race past my
tongue to pour out everything.
Instead I mumble,
I gnaw myself.
I lose hope.
And my mind is burning.

What is an adjective? Nouns name the world. Verbs activate the names. Adjectives come from somewhere else. The word adjective (epitheton in Greek) is… - Anne Carson

About Anne Carson

Also Known As

Additional quotes by Anne Carson