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A great many people seem to think writing poetry is worthwhile, even though it pays next to nothing and is not as widely read as it should be.

If poets were realistic, they wouldn't be poets.

There is poetry even in prose, in all the great prose which is not merely utilitarian or didactic: there exist poets who write in prose or at least in more or less apparent prose; millions of poets write verses which have no connection with poetry.

Poetry is the work of poets, not of peoples or communities; artistic creation can never be anything but the production of an individual mind.

Anybody serious about poetry knows how hard it is to achieve anything worthwhile in it.

It's a sad fact about our culture that a poet can earn much more money writing or talking about his art than he can by practicing it.

Writers must... take care of the sensibility that houses the possibility of poems.

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.

I don't think poetry is something that can be taught. We can encourage young writers, but what you can't teach them is the very essence of poetry.

As things are, and as fundamentally they must always be, poetry is not a career, but a mug's game. No honest poet can ever feel quite sure of the permanent value of what he has written: He may have wasted his time and messed up his life for nothing.