Poetry Is Quotes - Page 32

• I would insist that poetry is a normal human activity and its proper concern all the things that happen to people.

  Michael Longley

  People, Normal, Concern

  Michael Longley (1994). “Tuppenny stung: autobiographical chapters”

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• The true subject of poetry is the loss of the beloved.

  Faiz Ahmad Faiz

  Loss, Beloved, Subjects

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• So much of my poetry begins with something that I can describe in visual terms, so thinking about distance, thinking about how life begins and what might be watching us.

  Tracy K. Smith

  Distance, Thinking, Might

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• Poetry being an attempt to express, not the common sense, - as the avoirdupois of the hero, or his structure in feet and inches, - but the beauty and soul in his aspect . . . runs into fable, personifies every fact. . . .

  Marsilio Ficino

  Beauty, Running, Hero

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• Poetry is not the opinion stated. It is a song that appears instead of a bloody wound or a smiling mouth.

  Khalil Gibran

  Song, Inspiring Love, Mouths

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• I think it was T.S. Eliot who talked about good poetry being felt before it’s understood. I believe that. There are some bands where I love their lyrics but I don’t have a clue what they’re on about.

  Marcus Mumford

  Believe, Thinking, Band

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• I believe that all poetry is formal in that it exists within limits, limits that are either inherited by tradition or limits that language itself imposes.

  Mark Strand

  Believe, Limits, Language

  Mark Strand (2000). “The Weather of Words: Poetic Invention”, Alfred a Knopf Incorporated

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• Poetry is one of the destinies of speech... One would say that the poetic image, in its newness, opens a future to language.

  Gaston Bachelard

  Destiny, Speech, Language

  "The Poetics of Reverie". Book by Gaston Bachelard, 1960.

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• Poetry is also the physical self of the poet, and it is impossible to separate the poet from his poetry.

  Salvatore Quasimodo

  Self, Redemption, Impossible

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• Poetry is a counterfeit creation, and makes things that are not, as though they were

  John Donne

  Creativity, Creation, Counterfeit

  John Donne (1839). “The Works of John Donne, D.D., Dean of Saint Paul's, 1621-1631: With a Memoir of His Life”, p.498

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• If you go into a bar in most places in America and even say the word poetry, you'll probably get beaten up. But poetry is a really strong, beautiful form to me, and a lot of innovation in language comes from poetry.

  Jim Jarmusch

  Beautiful, Strong, America

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• Creativity is the result of a struggle between vitality and form. As anyone who has tried to write a sonnet or scan poetry, is aware, the form ideally do not take away from the creativity but may add to it.

  Rollo May

  Struggle, Writing, Creativity

  Rollo May (2011). “Love & Will”, p.320, W. W. Norton & Company

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• Poetry is the lifeblood of rebellion, revolution, and the raising of consciousness.

  Alice Walker

  Revolution, Brilliant, Consciousness

  Alice Walker (2013). “The Cushion in the Road: Meditation and Wandering as the Whole World Awakens to Being in Harm's Way”, p.236, New Press, The

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• We know the surrealist solution: concrete irrationality, objective risk. Poetry is the conquest, the only possible conquest, of the 'supreme position', 'a certain position of the mind from where life and death, the real and the imaginary, the past and the future... cease to be perceived in a contradictory sense.'

  Albert Camus

  Real, Past, Life And Death

  Albert Camus (2012). “The Rebel: An Essay on Man in Revolt”, p.97, Vintage

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• To me, poetry is about survival first of all. Survival of the individual self, survival of the emotional life.

  Gregory Orr

  Emotional, Self, Survival

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• Poetry is the art of saying what you mean but disguising it.

  Diane Wakoski

  Art, Mean

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• Poetry is a matter of life, not just a matter of language.

  Lucille Clifton

  Matter, Language

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• Poetry is what is lost in translation. It is also what is lost in interpretation.

  Robert Frost

  Lost, Interpretation, Translations

  Quoted in Louis Untermeyer, Robert Frost: A Backward Look (1964)

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• Poetry is not a silent art. The poem must perform, unaided, in its reader’s head.

  Christopher Logue

  Art, Silent, Reader

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• Poetry is innocent, not wise. It does not learn from experience, because each poetic experience is unique.

  Karl Shapiro

  Wise, Unique, Library

  Karl Jay Shapiro (2004). “Creative Glut: Selected Essays of Karl Shapiro”, Ivan R. Dee Publisher

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• Poetry is paying attention to life when all the world seems asleep to its beauties and truths.

  John J. Geddes

  Reflection, Attention, World

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• Poetry is to philosophy what the Sabbath is to the rest of the week.

  Augustus William Hare

  Philosophy, Poetry, Week

  Julius Charles HARE (Archdeacon of Lewes. and HARE (Augustus William)), Augustus William HARE (1847). “Guesses at Truth, by Two Brothers. Third edition. First Series”, p.14

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• Poetry is not a civilizer, rather the reverse, for great poetry appeals to the most primitive instincts.

  Robinson Jeffers

  Poetry, Instinct, Appeals

  Robinson Jeffers, Tim Hunt (1988). “The Collected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers: Poetry 1903-1920, prose, and unpublished writings”, p.425, Stanford University Press

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• Poetry is the outcome of emotions recollected in tranquility.

  William Wordsworth

  Poetry, Outcomes, Emotion

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• Poetry is only secondarily about words. Primarily, it is about truth. I dealt with the Ding an Sich, the substance behind the shadow, weaving powerful concepts, similes, and connections the way an engineer would raise a skyscraper with the whiskered-alloy skeleton being constructed long before the glass and plastic and chromaluminum appears.

  Dan Simmons

  Truth, Powerful, Skeletons

  Dan Simmons (2014). “The Hyperion Cantos 4-Book Bundle: Hyperion, The Fall of Hyperion, Endymion, The Rise of Endymion”, p.239, Spectra

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