Poetry Quotes - Page 19

• He who draws noble delights from sentiments of poetry is a true poet, though he has never written a line in all his life.

  George Sand

  Noble, Delight, Lines

  George Sand (1800). “The Haunted Pool: (La Mare Au Diable).”, p.20

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• I gave up on new poetry myself 30 years ago when most of it began to read like coded messages passing between lonely aliens in a hostile world.

  Russell Baker

  Lonely, Loneliness, Years

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• A true poet does not bother to be poetical. Nor does a nursery gardener scent his roses.

  Jean Cocteau

  Nurse, Rose, Doe

  Jean Cocteau (1926*). “A Call to Order, Written Between the Years 1918 and 1926 and Including "Cock and Harlequin", "Professional Secrets", and Other Critical Essays”

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• The spirit of poetry combines the profundity of the philosopher and the child's delight in bright pictures.

  Franz Grillparzer

  Children, Philosophical, Delight

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• Children and lunatics cut the Gordian knot which the poet spends his life patiently trying to untie.

  Jean Cocteau

  Life, Art, Children

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• The bad poet is usually unconscious where he ought to be conscious, and conscious where he ought to be unconscious.

  T. S. Eliot

  Crafts, Conscious, Ought

  T.S. Eliot (2010). “The Waste Land and Other Poems”, p.92, Broadview Press

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• Poetry is the apotheosis of sentiment.

  Madame de Stael

  Apotheosis, Poetry Is, Sentiments

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• I always say that one's poetry is a solace to oneself and a nuisance to one's friends.

  Hortense Calisher

  Nuisance, Solace, Oneself

  Hortense Calisher (2013). “The Collected Stories of Hortense Calisher”, p.629, Open Road Media

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• Poetry is the connecting link between body and mind.

  Camille Paglia

  Mind, Links, Body

  Camille Paglia (2018). “Free Women, Free Men: Sex, Gender, Feminism”, p.46, Canongate Books

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• Outrage and possibility are in all the poems we know.

  Muriel Rukeyser

  Possibility, Outrage, Knows

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• The universe of poetry is the universe of emotional truth. Our material is in the way we feel and the way we remember.

  Muriel Rukeyser

  Emotional, Way, Remember

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• Poetry is a dumb Buddha who thinks a donkey is as important as a diamond.

  Natalie Goldberg

  Thinking, Dumb, Important

  Natalie Goldberg (1990). “Wild Mind: Living the Writer's Life”, Bantam

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• Inspiration is needed in geometry, just as much as in poetry.

  Alexander Pushkin

  Inspirational, Math, Geometry

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• If certain critics and poetasters had their way, 'Ordinary Piety' and its child, Dullness, would be the masters of poetry.

  Edith Sitwell

  Children, Ordinary, Would Be

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• it is as unseeing to ask what is the use of poetry as it would be to ask what is the use of religion.

  Edith Sitwell

  Would Be, Use, Asks

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• A poet is a combination of an instrument and a human being in one person, with the former gradually taking over the latter. The sensation of this takeover is responsible for timbre; the realization of it, for destiny.

  Joseph Brodsky

  Destiny, Realization, Responsible

  Joseph Brodsky (2011). “Less Than One: Selected Essays”, p.177, Penguin UK

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• Poetry should be vital--either stirring our blood by its divine movements or snatching our breath by its divine perfection. To do both is supreme glory, to do either is enduring fame.

  Augustine Birrell

  Blood, Perfection, Movement

  Augustine Birrell (1885). “Obiter Dicta ...: Carlye. On the alleged obscurity of Mr. Browning's poetry. Truth-hunting. Actors. A rogue's memoirs. The via media. Falstaff [by George Radford”

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• Poetry is fact given over to imagery.

  Rod McKuen

  Facts, Given, Imagery

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• poetry is the sung voice of accurate perception.

  Patricia Hampl

  Voice, Perception, Accurate

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• The materials of true poetry are always humble, absolutely idiosyncratic, the autobiographical tatters that, in gifted hands, are made into the memoir that fits us all.

  Patricia Hampl

  Humble, Hands, Fit

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• We always cut our poetical theories to suit our talent.

  Madame de Stael

  Cutting, Suits, Talent

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• Poetry interprets in two ways: it interprets by expressing, with magical felicity, the physiognomy and movements of the outward world; and it interprets by expressing, with inspired conviction, the ideas and laws of the inward world of man's moral and spiritual nature. In other words, poetry is interpretative both by having natural magic in it, and by having moral profundity.

  Matthew Arnold

  Spiritual, Men, Law

  Matthew Arnold (1875). “Essays in Criticism”, p.128, London : [s.n.]

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• Though we do not have many poets, we certainly have more than we deserve, for we deserve none at all. It is ourselves that we are hurting by our stupidity and ignorance of poetry.

  Elizabeth Janeway

  Hurt, Ignorance, Stupidity

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• I tell poets that when a line just floats into your head, don't pay attention 'cause it probably has floated into somebody else's head.

  Gwendolyn Brooks

  Lines, Pay, Causes

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• religion is poetry, - poetry is religion.

  Marie Corelli

  Poetry Is

  Marie Corelli (2004). “Wormwood: A Drama of Paris”, p.104, Broadview Press

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