"According to its doctors, my one intransigent desire is to have been a Confederate general, and because I could not or would not become anything else, I set up for poet and beg an to invent fictions about the personal ambitions that my society has no use for"

This quote by Allen Tate talks to the suggestion of aspiration as well as the constraints of society. Tate is expressing his own personal wish to have been a Confederate basic, but due to the conditions of his life, he was incapable to seek this aspiration. Instead, he chose to become a poet and also create tales regarding aspirations that his culture had no usage for. This quote speaks to the idea that society can restrict our aspirations and wishes, and that we have to find methods to express ourselves and our aspirations in spite of these constraints. Tate's quote is a suggestion that we need to never give up on our desires, despite exactly how difficult they may seem. We need to constantly strive to pursue our aspirations and discover ways to express ourselves, also if culture does not identify or value them.