Authors:
  1. Quotes
  2. Authors
  3. H
  4. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
  5. The tragic element in poetry is like Saturn in alchemy, —...

The tragic element in poetry is like Saturn in alchemy, — the Malevolent, the Destroyer of Nature ; but without it no true Aurum Potabile, or Elixir of Life, can be made.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Poetry, Elements, Saturn
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1866). “Kavanagh. Driftwood”, p.365
The tragic element in poetry is like Saturn in alchemy, — the Malevolent, the Destroyer of Nature ; but without it no true Aurum Potabile, or Elixir of Life, can be made.