"I have a high guilt quotient. A poem can go through as many as 50 or 60 drafts. It can take from a day to two years-or longer."

Writing, Day, Guilt, Years

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"I have a high guilt quotient. A poem can go through as many as 50 or 60 drafts. It can take from a day to two years-or longer."

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"Scotland consistently produces world-class writers."

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"Actually, the 14 novels were written over a period of just over 6 years."

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"Her love of words is a private passion - one she would rather not share. In the house of her childhood though everything had to be shared. If she tried to hold anything back, they would search and find the hidden places. Her written words, discovered, read were just the source of more pain and punishment. This was why she loved poetry. They did not always understand it so they left it alone."

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Explore more quotes by Rita Dove

"I was apprehensive. I feared every time I talked about poetry, it would be filtered through the lens of race, sex, and age."

Age

"I think children have talent and insight, but it gets beaten out of them."

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"I believe people may have a predisposition for artistic creativity. It doesn't mean they're going to make it."

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"For many years, I thought a poem was a whisper overheard, not an aria heard."

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"Being Poet Laureate made me realize I was capable of a larger voice. There is a more public utterance I can make as a poet."

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"In working on a poem, I love to revise. Lots of younger poets don't enjoy this, but in the process of revision I discover things."

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"The poetry that sustains me is when I feel that, for a minute, the clouds have parted and I've seen ecstasy or something."

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"Rap is only one end of a whole spectrum of verbal play and virtuosity. Rap is geared for aural pleasure."

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"What writing does is to reveal."

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"I thought, after the Pulitzer, at least nothing will surprise me quite that much in my life. And another one happened. It was quite amazing."

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