Poetry is a deal of joy and pain and wonder, with a dash of the dictionary.
—Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese-born American Philosopher, Poet, Painter, Theologian, Sculptor
Poetry is all that is worth remembering in life.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
Truth shines the brighter clad in verse.
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744) English Poet
Poetry is not made out of the understanding. The question of common sense is always: “What is it good for?” a question which would abolish the rose, and be triumphantly answered by the cabbage.
—James Russell Lowell (1819–91) American Poet, Critic
Poetry is the art of uniting pleasure with truth.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
War talk by men who have been in a war is always interesting; whereas moon talk by a poet who has not been in the moon is likely to be dull.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
Poetry is most just to its divine origin, when it administers the comforts and breathes the thoughts of religion.
—William Wordsworth (1770–1850) English Poet
Poetry reveals to us the loveliness of nature, brings back the freshness of youthful feeling, revives the relish of simple pleasures, keeps unquenched the enthusiasm which warmed the spring time of our being, refines youthful love, strengthens our interest in human nature, by vivid delineations of its tenderest and softest feelings, and, through the brightness of its prophetic visions, helps faith to lay hold on the future life.
—William Ellery Channing (1780–1842) American Unitarian Theologian, Poet
Poets are never young in one sense. Their delicate ear hears the far-off whispers of eternity, which coarser souls must travel toward for scores of years before their dull sense is touched by them.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–94) American Physician, Essayist
A poem is never finished, only abandoned.
—Paul Valery (1871–1945) French Critic, Poet
Teach you children poetry; it opens the mind, lends grace to wisdom and makes the heroic virtues hereditary.
—Walter Scott (1771–1832) Scottish Novelist, Poet, Playwright, Lawyer
As a poet there is only one political duty, and that is to defend one’s language against corruption. When it is corrupted, people lose faith in what they hear and this leads to violence.
—W. H. Auden (1907–73) British-born American Poet, Dramatist
An age which is incapable of poetry is incapable of any kind of literature except the cleverness of a decadence.
—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959) American Novelist
No poems can please for long or live that are written by water drinkers.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65–8 BCE) Roman Poet
Between religion’s “this is” and poetry’s “but suppose this is,” there must always be some kind of tension, until the possible and the actual meet at infinity.
—Northrop Frye
Poetry is the universal language which the heart holds with nature and itself. He who has a contempt for poetry, cannot have much respect for himself, or for anything else.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
The poetry is all in the anticipation, for there is none in reality
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
It is with roses and locomotives (not to mention acrobats Spring electricity Coney Island the 4th of July the eyes of mice and Niagara Falls) that my “poems” are competing.
—e. e. cummings (1894–1962) American Poet, Writer, Painter
The poetic act consists of suddenly seeing that an idea splits up into a number of equal motifs and of grouping them; they rhyme.
—Stephane Mallarme (1842–98) French Symbolist Poet
Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood.
—T. S. Eliot (1888–1965) American-born British Poet, Dramatist, Literary Critic
Poets are all who love and feel great truths, and tell them.
—Gamaliel Bailey (1807–59) American Journalist
He who finds elevated and lofty pleasure in the feeling of poetry is a true poet, though he never composed a line of verse in his entire lifetime.
—George Sand (1804–76) French Novelist, Dramatist
The poet is like the prince of clouds
Who haunts the tempest and laughs at the archer;
Exiled on the ground in the midst of jeers,
His giant wings prevent him from walking.
—Charles Baudelaire (1821–67) French Poet, Art Critic, Essayist, Translator
You can tear a poem apart to see what makes it tick… You’re back with the mystery of having been moved by words. The best craftsmanship always leaves holes and gaps… so that something that is not in the poem can creep, crawl, flash or thunder in.
—Dylan Thomas (1914–53) Welsh Poet, Author
The eye is the notebook of the poet.
—James Russell Lowell (1819–91) American Poet, Critic
We have more poets than judges and interpreters of poetry.—It is easier to write an indifferent poem than to understand a good one.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
You don’t have to suffer to be a poet. Adolescence is enough suffering for anyone.
—John Ciardi (1916–86) American Poet, Teacher, Etymologist, Translator
If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry.
—Emily Dickinson (1830–86) American Poet
The fear of poetry is an indication that we are cut off from our own reality
—Muriel Rukeyser (1913–80) American Poet, Writer
A poem begins in delight and ends in wisdom.
—Robert Frost (1874–1963) American Poet