Toni Morrison? Karl Shapiro? Anonymous?
Question for Quote Investigator: A prominent literary figure once said:
Nothing needs to be exposed since it is already barefaced.
I am having trouble finding a solid citation. Would you please help me to trace this expression?
Reply from Quote Investigator: U.S. author Toni Morrison won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993. Morrison’s Nobel lecture included a statement she attributed to an unnamed poet. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:1
We have heard all our short lives that we have to be responsible. What could that possibly mean in the catastrophe this world has become; where, as a poet said, “nothing needs to be exposed since it is already barefaced.” Our inheritance is an affront. You want us to have your old, blank eyes and see only cruelty and mediocrity.
QI and other researchers have not yet been able to identify the unnamed poet.
Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.
In 1951 poet Karl Shapiro published “Eden Retold” in “Poetry” magazine. One section titled “Shame” presented a different perspective on exposure:2
How to teach shame? How to teach nakedness
To the already naked? How to express
Nudity? How to open innocent eyes
And separate the innocent from the wise?
And how to re-establish the guilty tree
In infinite gardens of humanity?
In 1994 Arnold Wesker published an autobiography titled “As Much as I Dare” which included the quotation:3
Brutality was once ashamed of itself, furtive. All is changed. Brutality is now brazen. Like ignorance. ‘Yeah! I’m ignorant and I’m proud of it.’ As Toni Morrison wrote: ‘… nothing needs to be exposed since it is already barefaced …’ It worries me deeply.
In January 1994 “The Toronto Star” of Canada reprinted Toni Morrison’s Nobel lecture. Thus, the quotation achieved further distribution:4
What could that possibly mean in the catastrophe this word has become; where, as a poet said, “nothing needs to be exposed since it is already barefaced.”
In conclusion, Toni Morrison credited an unnamed poet with the quotation under examination. Currently, the identity of the poet remains unknown. Perhaps future researchers will discover something helpful.
Acknowledgement: Great thanks to Nikolaj Nielsen whose inquiry led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration.
- Website: Nobel Prize nobelprize.org, Lecture date: December 7, 1993, Article title: Nobel Lecture, Article author: Toni Morrison, Website description: Information about the Nobel Prizes from The Nobel Foundation which awards the prizes. (Accessed nobelprize.org on March 6, 2026) link ↩︎
- 1951 July, Poetry, Volume 78, Number 4, Poem: Eden Retold by Karl Shapiro, VI Shame, Quote Page 194, The Poetry Foundation, Chicago, Illinois. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1994 Copyright, As Much as I Dare: An Autobiography (1932-1959) by Arnold Wesker, Chapter 13, Section: No irony — an aside, Quote Page 259, Century: Random House, London. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1994 January 15, The Saturday Star (The Toronto Star), When Language Dies by Toni Morrison (Complete text of Nobel lecture), Quote Page J8, Column 4, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎