A poet is a man who manages, in a lifetime of standing out in thunderstorms, to be struck by lightning five or six times. – Randall Jarrell
Poetry is emotion put into measure. – Thomas Hardy
In many cases these verses will seem to the reader like poetry torn up by the roots, with rain and dew and earth still clinging to them, giving a freshness and a fragrance not otherwise to be conveyed. – Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Preface to Poems by Emily Dickinson Edited by Two of
I hate French poetry. What measured glitter! – Israel Zangwill, Dreamers of the Ghetto, “From a Mattress Grave,” 1897, spoken b
The pleasure that poetry gives is that of imagining more than is written; the task is divided between the poet and his reader. – Alexandre Vinet (1797–1847)
Poetry is perfect verbs hunting for elusive nouns. – J. Patrick Lewis, www.jpatricklewis.com
Truth shines the brighter, clad in verse. – Alexander Pope
And take back ill-polished stanzas to the anvil. – Horace, quoted in James Wood, Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern,
Compression of poetry is so great I often explode. Out of the house to walk off a poem. – William Corbett, “On Reading: Notes & a Poem,” The Agni Review, No.22 (1985)
Poems: words with smooth edges. – Author Unknown
Poetry is a perfectly reasonable means of overcoming chaos. – I.A. Richards (1893–1979)
Then, in what beauteous dress will Poetry oft clothe or decorate what in Prose is but too frequently flat and commonplace. – Frederick Hinde, Poetry, a lecture delivered in London on the evening of April 8
My poetry, I think, has become the way of my giving out what music is within me. – Countee Cullen (1903–1946)
[I]n every part of this eastern world, from Pekin to Damascus, the popular teachers of moral wisdom have immemorially been poets… – Sir William Jones, “On the Philosophy of the Asiaticks” (eleventh anniversary di
Without philosophy there can be no true poetry: without it pretty verses may, indeed, be made; but in order to be really a poet it is essential to be also, up to a certain point, a philosopher. – Alexandre Vinet (1797–1847)
The poet speaks to all men of that other life of theirs that they have smothered and forgotten. – Edith Sitwell
Your prayer can be poetry, and poetry can be your prayer. – Terri Guillemets, “A lonely pen at night,” 1992
[P]oetry… the spontaneous fusion of hitherto unrelated words. Such things must take place in your own head, by your own chemistry. – Marie Emilie Gilchrist (1893–1989), Writing Poetry: Suggestions for Young
Pressure cranks and presses Life, squeezing out essence of self, aromatic with bittersweet memories, pungent adversities, and the honey-musk of desire — the vapors hover over our inkpots, and if we pick up the feather it becomes our poetry. – Terri Guillemets
It is a sad fact about our culture that a poet can earn much more money writing or talking about his art than he can by practicing it. – W.H. Auden
