850 private quotes tagged poetry

“I think I'm a very good reader of poetry, but obviously, like everybody, I have a set of criteria for reading poems, and I'm not shy about presenting them, so if people ask for my critical response to a poem, I tell them what works and why, and what doesn't work and why.” — Diane Wakoski

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“I believe that all poetry is formal in that it exists within limits, limits that are either inherited by tradition or limits that language itself imposes.” — Mark Strand

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“A great many people seem to think writing poetry is worthwhile, even though it pays next to nothing and is not as widely read as it should be.” — Mark Strand

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“Even the people who have had success and made money writing these books of fiction seem to feel the need to pretend it's no big deal, or part of a natural progression from poetry to fiction, but often it's really just about the money, the perceived prestige.” — George Murray

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“My next project is to get back to that. Actually, to learn how to write poetry. I'm not kidding.” — Harry Mathews

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“Well, I had this little notion - I started writing when I was eleven, writing poetry. I was passionately addicted to it it was my great refuge through adolescence.” — Harry Mathews

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“Poetry operates by hints and dark suggestions. It is full of secrets and hidden formulae, like a witch's brew.” — Anthony Hecht

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“I don't like political poetry, and I don't write it. If this question was pointing towards that, I think it is missing the point of the American tradition, which is always apolitical, even when the poetry comes out of politically active writers.” — Diane Wakoski

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“Distinctly American poetry is usually written in the context of one's geographic landscape, sometimes out of one's cultural myths, and often with reference to gender and race or ethnic origins.” — Diane Wakoski

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“She was the Judy Garland of American poetry.” — James Dickey

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“I published, privately, a collection of my serious poetry I had written over the years. I only published 50 copies, which I gave to friends, in a special deluxe edition. It was ridiculously expensive but I'm glad that I did it.” — Tom Glazer

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“Poetry is, first and last, language - the rest is filler.” — Mark Strand

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“I have always wanted what I have now come to call the voice of personal narrative. That has always been the appealing voice in poetry. It started for me lyrically in Shakespeare's sonnets.” — Diane Wakoski

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“Poetry is something that happens in universities, in creative writing programs or in English departments.” — Mark Strand

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“I think the best American poetry is the poetry that utilizes the resources of poetry rather than exploits the defects or triumphs of the poet's personality.” — Mark Strand

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“I certainly can't speak for all cultures or all societies, but it's clear that in America, poetry serves a very marginal purpose. It's not part of the cultural mainstream.” — Mark Strand

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“A life is not sufficiently elevated for poetry, unless, of course, the life has been made into an art.” — Mark Strand

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“Humour is a fine line to walk in poetry, as in fiction. I just think it's harder to write. It's harder to keep the respect of the reader too.” — George Murray

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“I've often entertained paranoid suspicions about my fridge and what it's been doing to my poetry when I'm not looking, but I never even considered that my fan was thinking about me.” — George Murray

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“I've always written. When I was in school, the only teacher who ever liked me was my creative writing teacher. I used to enter poetry competitions, and I don't think I ever lost one. So I had the idea for a while of being some kind of poet.” — Justin Townes Earle

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“The poetry community here has been extraordinarily welcoming.” — George Murray

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“Writing poetry makes you intensely conscious of how words sound, both aloud and inside the head of the reader. You learn the weight of words and how they sound to the ear.” — Helen Dunmore

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“I heard Nirvana, and discovered that songs could be like poetry, but a little bit more refined: you didn't have to have 20 verses to get your point across.” — Justin Townes Earle

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“I realized poetry's the thing that I can do 'cause I can stick at it and work with tremendous intensity.” — Philip Levine

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“Written poetry is different. Best thing is to see it in performance first, then read it. Performance is more provocative.” — Adrian Mitchell

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