Quote

All one's inventions are true, you can be sure of that. Poetry is as exact a science as geometry.

By the general process of epic poetry, I mean the way this form of art has constantly responded to the profound needs of the society in which it was made.

Everything one invents is true, you may be perfectly sure of that. Poetry is as precise as geometry.

I think there was a revolution in poetry, associated chiefly with Eliot and Pound; but maybe it is of the nature of revolutions or of the nature of history that their innovations should later come to look trivial or indistinguishable from technical tricks.

There's a fierce practicality and empiricism which the whole imaginative, lyrical aspect of poetry comes from.

And, I mean, I think poetry does need to be met to some extent, especially, I guess, 19th century poetry, and for me, it's just been so worth the effort. It's like I'm planting a garden in my head.

Poetry is fascinating. As soon as it begins the poetry has changed the thing into something extra, and somehow prose can go over into poetry.

Great poetry does not have to be technically intricate.

Poetry is simply the most beautiful, impressive, and widely effective mode of saying things.