Better to write for yourself and have no public,
than to write for the public and have no self.
 - Cyril Connolly

A poet dares to be just so clear and no clearer; he approaches
lucid ground warily, like a mariner who is determined not to
scrape his bottom on anything solid.  A poet's pleasure is to
withhold a little of his meaning, to intensify by mystification.
He unzips the veil from beauty, but does not remove it.  A poet
utterly clear is a trifle glaring.
 - E. B. White