Here are a couple amusing quotes from intro to Rilke's Sonnets to Orpheus, written in 1942:
"It may be said of poets that while their systematic thought is now nearly worthless, their detached insights are priceless."
"In this first half of the 20th century we have acquired a high regard for commentaries, so busying ourselves with what someone else has to say about a work of art that we have no insight left to look upon the work itself."
