Adrian Caesar explains his intention in this paper as an interest in 'the idea of "modesty" in relation to art and artists as it is articulated in [Porter's] work'. Caesar argues that in Porter's 'portrayal of artists, and in particular of himself as poet, there is an anti-romantic insistence on the human failings, the limitations, the potential for mendacity, the very ordinariness of those who are driven "howling to their art".'