Poetry should surprise by a fine excess and not by singularity, it should strike the reader as a wording of his own highest thoughts, and appear almost a remembrance.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Poetry should... should strike the reader as a wording of his own highest thoughts, and appear almost a remembrance.
Poetry should be great and unobtrusive, a thing which enters into one's soul, and does not startle it or amaze it with itself, but with its subject.
Poetry is at least an elegance and at most a revelation.
For me, it makes sense to address shocking experiences through poems because of the way poems also have that effect on the reader.
Poetry brings all possible experience to the same degree: a degree in the consciousness beyond which the consciousness itself cannot go.
Great poetry is always written by somebody straining to go beyond what he can do.
First, I do not sit down at my desk to put into verse something that is already clear in my mind. If it were clear in my mind, I should have no incentive or need to write about it.
Poetry is thoughts that breathe, and words that burn.
I think that I have less conviction than ever that poetry matters - that poetry changes or saves anything or anyone. But, in fact, that's tremendously freeing. If it doesn't matter much, the stakes are lower and you can't really fail. It's insurrection. It's a tiny alphabet revolution. A secret. A psalm.
Poetry is partly sympathy, don't you think? If it's any good, it gets people to think about others' points of view.
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