substitution of terms

“We cannot know of the gods whether they exist or do not exist, or of what sort they are. Much prevents: the obscurity of the subject and the brevity of human life.”

Protagoras, “On Gods,” in Diels-Krantz, Die Vorsokratiker (Berlin, 1951)
[Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker (Berlin, 1903, 6th ed., rev. by Walther Kranz (Berlin: Weidmann, 1952; the editions after the 6th are mainly reprints with little or no change.)]

We cannot know of poems, what they mean or do not mean, or of what sort they are. Much prevents: the obscurity of the subject and the brevity of human life.

tempted by philosophy

The great danger which threatens us, poets tempted by philosophy, is that we should be drawn into explaining our aims instead of writing our work. Criticism judges us on our aphorisms, and not on our poems. We have been contaminated by German philosophy, saturated with commentaries on Hölderlin, and I need not so much as mention our familiarity with the pre-Socratics.

—Pierre Emmanuel, “Lines of Force in French Poetry,” lecture delivered March 1959 at the Library of Congress, collected in Literary Lectures (Library of Congress, 1973).