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If a poet has any obligation toward society, it is to write well. Being in the minority, he has no other choice. Failing this duty, he sinks into oblivion. Society, on the other hand, has no obligation toward the poet. A majority by definition, society thinks of itself as having other options than reading verses, no matter how well written. Its failure to do so results in its sinking to that level of locution at which society falls easy prey to a demagogue or a tyrant. This is society's own equivalent of oblivion. 
Brodsky, Joseph
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A little bit about Brodsky, Joseph
Joseph Brodsky (May 24, 1940 January 28, 1996), born Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky was a poet and essayist who won the Nobel Prize in Literature (1987) and was chosen Poet Laureate of the United States (1991-1992). · Can we improve this biography? Post your version
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