Daily Inspiration Quote by James Broughton

Broughton slips a needle into the balloon of artistic self-mythology: the poet isn’t a sacred conduit, he’s a person doing what people do - borrowing a costume, chasing a model, trying to pass as the kind of self that gets applauded. The line works because it refuses the flattering story that poets are uniquely original or uniquely sincere. Instead, it frames imitation as the default setting and “ought” as the real tyrant.

The subtext is psychological and social at once. “Try hard” suggests effortful performance, not inspiration; admiration becomes a script. Then Broughton sharpens the charge: some aren’t merely influenced, they’re “possessed.” That word turns self-improvement into haunting. The “image” isn’t an aspiration so much as an internalized audience - teachers, critics, lovers, gatekeepers - whose gaze keeps writing from becoming a live act and turns it into compliance. Poets, in other words, don’t just chase style; they chase legitimacy.

Context matters: Broughton was a filmmaker and a fixture of mid-century bohemian and experimental scenes, where authenticity was both a religion and a commodity. In that world, the pressure to be “a poet” (or a liberated artist, or a countercultural icon) could harden into a brand identity long before the work had a chance to surprise anyone. His line is a warning about borrowed personas: the danger isn’t learning from influences; it’s letting an ideal self become a censor. The real target is not imitation, but the anxiety that makes imitation feel safer than discovery.