It may be granted that Debussy's melodic line is very fluid and elastic, like Wagner's "continuous melody," not definitely sectionalized by balanced phrases or set cadences. But it surely has its own right to existence—music being pre-eminently the art of freedom—and let us remember that Nature herself has melting outlines, shadowy vistas and subtle rhythms. Debussy, in fact, is the poet of the "indefinite" and the "suggestive" and his music has had great influence in freeing expression from scholastic bond.

Page 296. - Quotes from Music: An Art and a Language - The Modern French School—d'Indy and Debussy (Ch. XVIII)

https://books.google.com/books?id=pQARAAAAIAAJ&pg=...