Life & Wisdom Quote by Irving Layton

Audacity is the point here: Layton doesn’t merely claim talent, he claims immortality, and he does it in the most combustible way possible - by naming the canon’s untouchables. Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Keats aren’t just benchmarks; they’re cultural property, the kind you’re not supposed to squat in. Layton kicks down that door and dares the reader to throw him out. The line works because it’s both manifesto and provocation: an ego-driven joke with real stakes underneath.

The specific intent is to seize authority in a literary culture that polices who gets to speak with “greatness” in their mouth. For a 20th-century Canadian poet - Jewish, outspoken, and famously combative - canon talk wasn’t neutral. It was a gate with British locks. By placing himself beside the English pantheon, Layton isn’t only praising himself; he’s exposing how arbitrary and clubby the idea of “lasting” can be. If the canon is a social arrangement as much as an aesthetic one, then the way to challenge it is to behave like you already belong.

The subtext is insecurity weaponized into performance. Layton’s “I am a genius” has the ring of self-mythmaking, but also of preemptive defense: if you don’t take up space, the institution won’t make room. There’s a sly double edge, too. He’s betting on time as the ultimate critic while knowing that reputation is manufactured in the present. The bravado reads like a dare to history - and to the reader complicit in deciding who gets remembered.