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Anne Stevenson

"Poets should ignore most criticism and get on with making poetry."

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"Poets should ignore most criticism and get on with making poetry."

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Amber Hurdle

"Everything one invents is true, you may be perfectly sure of that. Poetry is as precise as geometry."

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Amber Hurdle

"But at the beginning it was clear to me that concrete poetry was peculiarly suited for using in public settings. This was my idea, but of course I never really much got the chance to do it."

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Amber Hurdle

"I get a little poetic sometimes. The moonlight does that to me."

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Amber Hurdle

"And here, in thought, to thee-In thought that can alone, Ascend thy empire and so be A partner of thy throne, By winged Fantasy, My embassy is given, Till secrecy shall knowledge be In the environs of Heaven."

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Amber Hurdle

"Justice is not Healing. Healing cometh only by suffering and patience, and maketh no demand, not even for Justice. Justice worketh only within the bonds of things as they are... and therefore though Justice is itself good and desireth no further evil, it can but perpetuate the evil that was, and doth not prevent it from the bearing of fruit in sorrow."

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Amber Hurdle

"None but a poet can write a tragedy. For tragedy is nothing less than pain transmuted into exaltation by the alchemy of poetry."

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Amber Hurdle

"Every poet has his dream reader: mine keeps a look out for curious prosodic fauna like bacchics and choriambs."

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Amber Hurdle

"My second thoughts condemnAnd wonder how I dareTo look you in the eye.What right have I to swearEven at one a.m.To love you till I die?Earth meets too many crimesFor fibs to interest her;If I can give my word,Forgiveness can recurAny number of timesIn Time. Which is absurd.Tempus fugit. Quite.So finish up your drink.All flesh is grass. It is. But who on earth can thinkWith heavy heart or lightOf what will come of this?"

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Amber Hurdle

"Most people ignore most poetry because most poetry ignores most people."

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Amber Hurdle

"That men, who might have tower'd in the vanOf all the congregated world, to fanAnd winnow from the coming step of timeAll chaff of custom, wipe away all slimeLeft by men-slugs and human serpentry,Have been content to let occasion die,Whilst they did sleep in love's Elysium."

Explore more quotes by Anne Stevenson

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Anne Stevenson
"Yes, I do often write poems from the mind, but I hope I don't ignore feelings and emotions."
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Anne Stevenson
"I don't like poetry that just slaps violent words on a canvas, as it were."
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Anne Stevenson
"I remain loyal to Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert in music and to Shakespeare and Jane Austen in literature."
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Anne Stevenson
"There is far too much literary criticism of the wrong kind. That is why I never could have survived as an academic."
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Anne Stevenson
"I'm not really quiet or shy. Ask any of my friends! But I always ground my poetry in life itself. Poetry is an art of language, though, so I am always aware of every word's meaning, or multiple meanings."
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Anne Stevenson
"Blake has always been a favorite, the lyrics, not so much the prophetic books, but I suppose Yeats influenced me more as a young poet, and the American, Robert Frost."
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Anne Stevenson
"I work very hard on all my poems, but most of the work consists of trying not to sound as if I had worked. I try to make them sound as natural as possible, but within a quite strict form, which to my ears has a lot to do with musical rhythm and sound."
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Anne Stevenson
"Peter Lucas and I live in Durham but spend a great of time in North Wales, where we have a cottage in the mountains, and in Vermont, USA, with my sister - who is a children's writer married to a poet."
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Anne Stevenson
"Each word bears its weight, so you have to read my poems quite slowly."
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Anne Stevenson
"My earlier poems were sadder than my poems are today, perhaps because I wrote them in confusion or when I was unhappy. But I am not a melancholy person, quite the contrary, no one enjoys laughing more than I do."
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