Poets Talking About Poetry

Robert Frost (1875-1963) American Poet.

Poetry is finer and more philosophical than history; for poetry expresses the universal, and history only the particular.

Aristotle (384 BC-322 BC) Greek philosopher.

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-English poet and playwright.

If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry.

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) American poet.

When power leads man towards arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the area of man's concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses.

John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) Thirty-fifth President of the USA

Poetry is not an expression of the party line. It's that time of night, lying in bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, that's what the poet does.

Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997) U.S. poet.

Poetry comes nearer to vital truth than history.

Plato (BC 427-BC 347) Greek philosopher.

Poetry is either something that lives like fire inside you --like music to the musician or Marxism to the Communist --or else it is nothing, an empty formalized bore around which pedants can endlessly drone their notes and explanations.

Author Unknown

You will not find poetry anywhere unless you bring some of it with you.

Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French moralist.

In science one tries to tell people, in such a way as to be understood by everyone, something that no one ever knew before. But in poetry, it's the exact opposite.

Kahlil Gibran (1883 –1931)Lebanese poet, artist, and writer

Poetry is a deal of joy and pain and wonder, with a dash of the dictionary.

The Bottom Line for Poets

Breathe-in experience,
Breathe-out poetry.

~Muriel Rukeyser

Thank you, Inosha

T

The Arena Culture

This is the fourth paragraph in the "New York Times" article about our "Arena Culture." The whole article is rather interesting, and it has implications for writers, poets, and other groups in terms of what we write about and where we find meaning in our lives. You can find the article online below the next paragraph.

"For the past hundred years, we have lived in a secular age. That does not mean that people aren’t religious. It means there’s no shared set of values we all absorb as preconscious assumptions. In our world, individuals have to find or create their own meaning."


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/31/opinion/31brooks.html?_r=1&ref=opinion