Poetry Quotes | Beyond Motive 8/15

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Poetry Quotes

"An experienced reader uses the poem as an agent of inquiry. This makes poetry very exciting, unstable, and interactive."

"An experienced reader uses the poem as an agent of inquiry. This makes poetry very exciting, unstable, and interactive."

John Barton, Canadian Poet

33

"Poetry is the language we speak in the most terrifying or ecstatic passages of our lives. But the very word poetry scares people. They think of their grade school teachers reciting 'Hiawatha' and they groan."

"Poetry is the language we speak in the most terrifying or ecstatic passages of our lives. But the very word poetry scares people. They think of their grade school teachers reciting 'Hiawatha' and they groan."

Erica Jong, American Novelist

Poetry, Language, Emotion, Expression

33

"The other side of it is that, despite all that, people reach out to poetry at the key moments in their lives."

"The other side of it is that, despite all that, people reach out to poetry at the key moments in their lives."

Paul Muldoon, English Poet

Poetry, People, Key, Moments

33

"I will not leave a corner of my consciousness covered up, but saturate myself with the strange and extraordinary new conditions of this life, and it will all refine itself into poetry later on."

"I will not leave a corner of my consciousness covered up, but saturate myself with the strange and extraordinary new conditions of this life, and it will all refine itself into poetry later on."

Isaac Rosenberg, English Poet

Poetry, Life, Consciousness, Will

33

"Poetry has saved me on occasions when people couldn't."

"Poetry has saved me on occasions when people couldn't."

Sanober Khan, Indian Businessman

Poetry, Emotion, Expression, Creativity

33

"Poetry must have something in it that is barbaric, vast and wild."

"Poetry must have something in it that is barbaric, vast and wild."

Denis Diderot, French Editor

33

"A poet is not an apostle, he drives out devils only by the power of the devil."

"A poet is not an apostle, he drives out devils only by the power of the devil."

Soren Kierkegaard, Danish Philosopher

Poetry, Darkness, Power, Language

33

"That's one of the great things about poetry; one realises that one does one's little turn - that you're just part of the great crop, as it were."

"That's one of the great things about poetry; one realises that one does one's little turn - that you're just part of the great crop, as it were."

Paul Muldoon, English Poet

33

"His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow, and the beard of his chin was as white as the snow."

"His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow, and the beard of his chin was as white as the snow."

Clement Clarke Moore, American Writer

32

"Reality only reveals itself when it is illuminated by a ray of poetry."

"Reality only reveals itself when it is illuminated by a ray of poetry."

Georges Braque, French Artist

Poetry, Reality

32

"There is an urgent need for Americans to look deeply into themselves and their actions, and musical poetry is perhaps the most effective mirror available. Every newspaper headline is a potential song."

"There is an urgent need for Americans to look deeply into themselves and their actions, and musical poetry is perhaps the most effective mirror available. Every newspaper headline is a potential song."

Phil Ochs, American Musician

Poetry, Actions, Americans, Potential

32

"Rap is poetry to music, like beatniks without beards and bongos."

"Rap is poetry to music, like beatniks without beards and bongos."

David Lee Roth, American Musician

Poetry, Music, Rap

32

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

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

Edith Hamilton, American Writer

Poetry, Alchemy, Nothing, Pain

32

"I'm quite sure that most writers would sustain real poetry if they could, but it takes devotion and talent."

"I'm quite sure that most writers would sustain real poetry if they could, but it takes devotion and talent."

Marguerite Young, American Author

Poetry, Talent, Devotion, Writers

32

"If there were no poetry on any day in the world, poetry would be invented that day. For there would be an intolerable hunger."

"If there were no poetry on any day in the world, poetry would be invented that day. For there would be an intolerable hunger."

Muriel Rukeyser, American Poet

Poetry, Day, Hunger, World

32

"There are so many things that poetry is about, one of which is memory."

"There are so many things that poetry is about, one of which is memory."

Peter Davison, British Actor

32

"Poetry is the utterance of deep and heart-felt truth - the true poet is very near the oracle."

"Poetry is the utterance of deep and heart-felt truth - the true poet is very near the oracle."

Edwin Hubbel Chapin, American Clergyman

Poetry, Truth, Heart, Deep

32

"Once every five hundred years or so, a summary statement about poetry comes along that we can't imagine ourselves living without."

"Once every five hundred years or so, a summary statement about poetry comes along that we can't imagine ourselves living without."

A. R. Ammons, American Poet

Poetry, Living, Years

32

"We simply have not kept in touch with poetry."

"We simply have not kept in touch with poetry."

Paul Muldoon, English Poet

32

"The sources of poetry are in the spirit seeking completeness."

"The sources of poetry are in the spirit seeking completeness."

Muriel Rukeyser, American Poet

32

"Anticipating that most poetry will be worse than carrying heavy luggage through O'Hare Airport, the public, to its loss, reads very little of it."

"Anticipating that most poetry will be worse than carrying heavy luggage through O'Hare Airport, the public, to its loss, reads very little of it."

Russell Baker, American Journalist

Poetry, Loss, Public, Will

32

"Stadium rock and commercial rock are the opposite of what poetry needs. An audience of around 200 is ideal for poetry."

"Stadium rock and commercial rock are the opposite of what poetry needs. An audience of around 200 is ideal for poetry."

Adrian Mitchell, British Poet

32

"But one does not make living writing poetry unless you're a professor, and one frankly doesn't get a lot of girls as a poet."

"But one does not make living writing poetry unless you're a professor, and one frankly doesn't get a lot of girls as a poet."

Jeffery Deaver, American Writer

Poetry, Girls, Living, Writing

32

"Clarity, clarity, surely clarity is the most beautiful thing in the world, A limited, limiting clarity I have not and never did have any motive of poetry But to achieve clarity."

"Clarity, clarity, surely clarity is the most beautiful thing in the world, A limited, limiting clarity I have not and never did have any motive of poetry But to achieve clarity."

George Oppen, American Poet

Poetry, Clarity, Motive, World

32

"Journalism wishes to tell what it is that has happened everywhere as though the same things had happened for every man. Poetry wishes to say what it is like for any man to be himself in the presence of a particular occurrence as though only he were alone there."

"Journalism wishes to tell what it is that has happened everywhere as though the same things had happened for every man. Poetry wishes to say what it is like for any man to be himself in the presence of a particular occurrence as though only he were alone there."

Archibald MacLeish, American Poet

Poetry, Journalism, Man, Wishes

32

"The lines of poetry, the period of prose, and even the texts of Scripture most frequently recollected and quoted, are those which are felt to be preeminently musical."

"The lines of poetry, the period of prose, and even the texts of Scripture most frequently recollected and quoted, are those which are felt to be preeminently musical."

William Shenstone, English Poet

Poetry, Prose, Scripture

32

"You make autumn misttaste like champagne and turn winter raininto the elixir of life itself."

"You make autumn misttaste like champagne and turn winter raininto the elixir of life itself."

Sanober Khan, Indian Businessman

Poetry, Love, Nature, Emotion, Beauty

32

"I knew what book we had to write, it was clear in my head; it was journals and poetry. So I passed on their offer. I told my agent this is our vision, and no one's done it this way."

"I knew what book we had to write, it was clear in my head; it was journals and poetry. So I passed on their offer. I told my agent this is our vision, and no one's done it this way."

Kenny Loggins, American Musician

32

"When I was writing pretty poor poetry, this girl with midnight black hair told me to go on."

"When I was writing pretty poor poetry, this girl with midnight black hair told me to go on."

Carl Sandburg, American Poet

Poetry, Hair, Midnight, Poor

32

"The Language Poets are writing only about language itself. The Ashbery poets are writing only about poetry itself. That seems to me a kind of dead end."

"The Language Poets are writing only about language itself. The Ashbery poets are writing only about poetry itself. That seems to me a kind of dead end."

Robert Morgan, American Soldier

Poetry, End, Language, Poets

32

"I have written some songs, but I would really call what I've done poetry at the end of the day, because I'll sit with my guitar for hours and hours on end for, like, a week and then I won't touch it for a month. I also just have no confidence. And you know what? I don't have time, because I'd rather be doing other things, like knitting."

"I have written some songs, but I would really call what I've done poetry at the end of the day, because I'll sit with my guitar for hours and hours on end for, like, a week and then I won't touch it for a month. I also just have no confidence. And you know what? I don't have time, because I'd rather be doing other things, like knitting."

Amanda Seyfried, American Actress

Poetry, Time, Confidence, Day

32

"However, poetry does not live solely in books or in school anthologies."

"However, poetry does not live solely in books or in school anthologies."

Eugenio Montale, Italian Poet

Poetry, Books, School

32

"You know, people speak in poetry all the time. They just don't realize it."

"You know, people speak in poetry all the time. They just don't realize it."

Sherman Alexie, American Writer

Poetry, Language, Expression, Awareness

32

"I don't live for poetry. I live far more than anybody else does."

"I don't live for poetry. I live far more than anybody else does."

Charles Olson, American Poet

31

"It is a way we reassess our past. We can do that in poetry in ways we can't do in prose."

"It is a way we reassess our past. We can do that in poetry in ways we can't do in prose."

Peter Davison, British Actor

Poetry, Past, Prose

31

"Poetry is composing for the breath."

"Poetry is composing for the breath."

Peter Davison, British Actor

31

"I think we will always have the impulse towards visual poetry with us, and I wouldn't agree with Bly that it's a bad thing. It depends on the ability of the individual poet to do it well, and to make a shape which is interesting enough to hold your attention."

"I think we will always have the impulse towards visual poetry with us, and I wouldn't agree with Bly that it's a bad thing. It depends on the ability of the individual poet to do it well, and to make a shape which is interesting enough to hold your attention."

James Laughlin, American Poet

Poetry, Ability, Attention, Will

31

"But I am not political in the current events sense, and I have never wanted anyone to read my poetry that way."

"But I am not political in the current events sense, and I have never wanted anyone to read my poetry that way."

Diane Wakoski, American Poet

Poetry, Events, Sense

31

"The mystic purchases a moment of exhilaration with a lifetime of confusion; and the confusion is infectious and destructive. It is confusing and destructive to try and explain anything in terms of anything else, poetry in terms of psychology."

"The mystic purchases a moment of exhilaration with a lifetime of confusion; and the confusion is infectious and destructive. It is confusing and destructive to try and explain anything in terms of anything else, poetry in terms of psychology."

Basil Bunting, British Poet

Poetry, Confusion, Psychology

31

"I was one of those dark, quiet kids that wrote poetry."

"I was one of those dark, quiet kids that wrote poetry."

Rick Springfield, American Musician

Poetry, Kids, Quiet

31

"It was the noise Of ancient trees falling while all was still Before the storm, in the long interval Between the gathering clouds and that light breeze Which Germans call the Wind's bride."

"It was the noise Of ancient trees falling while all was still Before the storm, in the long interval Between the gathering clouds and that light breeze Which Germans call the Wind's bride."

Charles Godfrey Leland, American Writer

Poetry, Clouds, Light, Trees, Wind

31

"Poetry is its own medium; it's very different than writing prose. Poetry can talk in an imagistic sense, it has particular ways of catching an environment."

"Poetry is its own medium; it's very different than writing prose. Poetry can talk in an imagistic sense, it has particular ways of catching an environment."

Story Musgrave, American Astronaut

Poetry, Environment, Prose, Sense

31

"But I can only write what the muse allows me to write. I cannot choose, I can only do what I am given, and I feel pleased when I feel close to concrete poetry - still."

"But I can only write what the muse allows me to write. I cannot choose, I can only do what I am given, and I feel pleased when I feel close to concrete poetry - still."

Ian Hamilton Finlay, Scottish Poet

31

"For me, poetry is always a search for order."

"For me, poetry is always a search for order."

Elizabeth Jennings, English Poet

31

"Poetry is like a bird, it ignores all frontiers."

"Poetry is like a bird, it ignores all frontiers."

Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Russian Poet

31

"If the object of poetry is, to make men, then poetry is the heir of prophecy."

"If the object of poetry is, to make men, then poetry is the heir of prophecy."

Muhammad Iqbal, Pakistani Poet

Poetry, Men, Heir, Prophecy

31

"Well I guess the plan was to write poetry and publish books and make a living from writing poetry. That was a pretty ambitious plan I guess."

"Well I guess the plan was to write poetry and publish books and make a living from writing poetry. That was a pretty ambitious plan I guess."

Robert Adamson, Scottish Philosopher

Poetry, Books, Living, Pretty

31

"Literature is a state of culture, poetry is a state of grace, before and after culture."

"Literature is a state of culture, poetry is a state of grace, before and after culture."

Juan Ramon Jimenez, Spanish Poet

Poetry, Culture, Grace, Literature

31

"In fact, in lyric poetry, truthfulness becomes recognizable as a ring of truth within the medium itself."

"In fact, in lyric poetry, truthfulness becomes recognizable as a ring of truth within the medium itself."

Seamus Heaney, Irish Poet

Poetry, Truth, Fact

31

"Spanish rain,A maiden's dress,Apothecary pillsAnd ancient thrills;Melancholy killsA girl's caress."

"Spanish rain,A maiden's dress,Apothecary pillsAnd ancient thrills;Melancholy killsA girl's caress."

Roman Payne, American Novelist

Poetry, Melancholy, Emotion, Art

31

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