I would define the poetic effect as the capacity that a text displays for continuing to generate different readings, without ever being completely consumed.
—Umberto Eco (1932–2016) Italian Novelist
Poetry is the statement of a relation between a man and the world.
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955) American Poet
Poetry is a mirror which makes beautiful that which is distorted.
—Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) English Poet, Dramatist, Essayist, Novelist
I cannot accept the doctrine that in poetry there is a “suspension of belief.” A poet must never make a statement simply because it is sounds poetically exciting; he must also believe it to be true.
—W. H. Auden (1907–73) British-born American Poet, Dramatist
Poetry, good sir, in my opinion, is like a tender virgin, very young, and extremely beautiful, whom divers others virgins—namely, all the other sciences—make it their business to enrich, polish and adorn; and to her it belongs to make use of them all, and on her part to give a lustre to them all.
—Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish Novelist
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
Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood.
—T. S. Eliot (1888–1965) American-British Poet, Dramatist, Literary Critic
I wish our clever young poets would remember my homely definitions of prose and poetry; that is, prose = words in their best order;—poetry = the best words in the best order.
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English Poet, Literary Critic, Philosopher
Poetry must be as new as foam and as old as the rock.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
All that is best in the great poets of all countries, is not what is national in them, but what is universal.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) American Poet, Educator, Academic
It does not need that a poem should be long. Every word was once a poem. Every new relationship is a new word.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Poetry is a deal of joy and pain and wonder, with a dash of the dictionary.
—Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese-American Philosopher, Poet, Sculptor
Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality but an escape from personality. But, of course, only those we have personality and emotion know what it means to want to escape from these things.
—T. S. Eliot (1888–1965) American-British Poet, Dramatist, Literary Critic
Written poetry is worth reading once, and then should be destroyed. Let the dead poets make way for others. Then we might even come to see that it is our veneration for what has already been created, however beautiful and valid it may be, that petrifies us.
—Antonin Artaud (1896–1948) French Actor, Drama Theorist
Each venture is a new beginning, a raid on the inarticulate with shabby equipment always deteriorating in the general mess of imprecision of feeling.
—T. S. Eliot (1888–1965) American-British Poet, Dramatist, Literary Critic
This poem will never reach its destination. On Rousseau’s Ode To Posterity.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
Of all kinds of ambition, that which pursues poetical fame is the wildest.
—Oliver Goldsmith (1730–74) Irish Novelist, Playwright, Poet
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
Good poetry seems too simple and natural a thing that when we meet it we wonder that all men are not always poets. Poetry is nothing but healthy speech.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
A beautiful line of verse has twelve feet, and two wings.
—Jules Renard (1864–1910) French Writer, Diarist
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
The job of the poet is to render the world—to see it and report it without loss, without perversion. No poet ever talks about feelings. Only sentimental people do.
—Mark Van Doren (1894–1972) American Poet, Writer, Critic
A poet can survive anything but a misprint.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
That willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith.
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English Poet, Literary Critic, Philosopher
Great poetry is always written by somebody straining to go beyond what he can do.
—Stephen Spender (1909–95) English Poet, Critic
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
Poets are born, not paid.
—Addison Mizner (1872–1933) American Architect, Designer
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
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
Poetry is emotion put into measure. The emotion must come by nature, but the measure can be acquired by art.
—Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) English Novelist, Poet
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