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)

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

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element elixir life nature saturn

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