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W.H. Auden

“Base words are uttered only by the base
And can for such at once be understood;
But noble platitudes — ah, there's a case
Where the most careful scrutiny is needed
To tell a voice that's genuinely good
From one that's base but merely has succeeded.”

W.H. Auden, Collected Poems
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Collected Poems Collected Poems by W.H. Auden
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