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Famous Poets Quotations - Top 30 Poetry Quotations by Famous Poets

  • "For this reason poetry is something more philosophical and more worthy of serious attention than history."
    -- Aristotle

  • "Every American poet feels that the whole responsibility for contemporary poetry has fallen upon his shoulders, that he is a literary aristocracy of one."
    -- W. H. Auden

  • "Eloquence is the poetry of prose."
    -- William C. Bryant

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

  • "How poetry comes to the poet is a mystery."
    -- Elizabeth Drew

  • "She opened up a book of poems and handed it to me written by an Italian poet from the 13th century and every one of them words rang true and glowed like burning coal pouring off of every page like it was written in my soul from me to you."
    -- Bob Dylan

  • "When a poet's mind is perfectly equipped for its work, it is constantly amalgamating disparate experiences."
    -- T S Eliot

  • "Painting was called silent poetry and poetry speaking painting."
    -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

  • "Only poetry inspires poetry."
    -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

  • "Poetry is a way of taking life by the throat."
    -- Robert Frost

  • "The man is either mad, or he is making verses."
    -- Horace

  • "Good religious poetry . . . is likely to be most justly appreciated and most discriminately relished by the undevout."
    -- A. E. Housman

  • "I did not believe political directives could be successfully applied to creative writing . . . not to poetry or fiction, which to be valid had to express as truthfully as possible the individual emotions and reactions of the writer."
    -- Langston Hughes

  • "I went for years not finishing anything. Because, of course, when you finish something you can be judged . . . I had poems which were re-written so many times I suspect it was just a way of avoiding sending them out."
    -- Erica Jong

  • "As I am a poet I express what I believe, and I fight against whatever I oppose, in poetry."
    -- June Jordan

  • "Poetry, even when apparently most fantastic, is always a revolt against artifice, a revolt, in a sense, against actuality."
    -- James Joyce

  • "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."
    -- John Keats

  • "Conventional wisdom notwithstanding, there is no reason either in football or in poetry why the two should not meet in a man's life if he has the weight and cares about the words."
    -- Archibald MacLeish

  • "I see no reason for calling my work poetry except that there is no other category in which to put it."
    -- Marianne Moore

  • "I've never read a political poem that's accomplished anything. Poetry makes things happen, but rarely what the poet wants."
    -- Howard Nemerov

  • "And he whose fustian's so sublimely bad/ It is not poetry, but prose run mad."
    -- Alexander Pope

  • "I have written some poetry that I don't understand myself."
    -- Carl Sandburg

  • "Poetry is the record of the best and happiest moments of the happiest and best minds."
    -- Percy Bysshe Shelley

  • "Great poetry is always written by somebody straining to go beyond what he can do."
    -- Stephen Spender

  • "I owe everything to a system that made me learn by heart till I wept. As a result I have thousands of lines of poetry by heart. I owe everything to this."
    -- George Steiner

  • "Everything is complicated; if that we not so, life and poetry and everything else would be a bore."
    -- Wallace Stevens

  • "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

  • "How do poems grow? They grow out of your life."
    -- Robert Penn Warren

  • "All good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity."
    -- William Wordsworth

  • "A poet's autobiography is his poetry. Anything else can be only a footnote."
    -- Yevgeny Yevtushenko

    Resource Box - ? Danielle Hollister (2005) is the Publisher of BellaOnline Quotations Zine
    - A free newsletter for quote lovers featuring more than 10,000 quotations in dozens of categories like - love, friendship, children, inspiration, success, wisdom, family, life, and many more; plus freebies and links to related resources. All new subscribers get one free ad. Read it - http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art8364.asp

    In The News:

    Boston Globe
    Woodworks hammer home a spare poetry
    Boston Globe, United States - 1 hour ago
    There's a poetry to this artist's simple forms. The tightly crossed oak boards forming the base of a nearly erect iron rod in "prop 1976" come across as ...

    Throwing It Out There There's Pros, Then There's Poetry
    Washington Post, United States - Nov 30, 2008
    By Desmond Bieler The college basketball season is well under way, as, apparently, is the NBA head coach-firing season. But we swear we're not piling on a ...

    Poetry Collection Tells Mythic Story of How One Dying Civilization ...
    Mass Media Distribution LLC (press release), FL - 4 hours ago
    ATHENS, Greece -- December 2, 2008 -- In his poetry collection, The Story of Our People, author David Hillstrom uses a poet, a woman and a welder to explore ...
    New Book Questions Validity of Contemporary Beliefs Mass Media Distribution LLC (press release)
    all 2 news articles

    Valley Advocate
    Easy Poetry?
    Valley Advocate, MA - 3 hours ago
    By James Heflin Poetry's got a reputation to uphold, apparently—the reputation of that last brutal Himalayan peak in the dim haze of the academic distance. ...

    LAST CHANCE: Romantic Poetry, Capture Now and Mouth to Mouth
    Playbill.com, NY - 7 hours ago
    Romantic Poetry (Off-Broadway at New York City Center Stage I). The world premiere musical with a score by Henry Kreiger (Dreamgirls, Side Show) and a book ...

    Acting as an anchor for poetry night
    Western Front, WA - 16 hours ago
    The loss of the location was felt by the Ankers, as they searched for a new location to host their café, and by Bellingham’s poetry scene. ...

    Poetry comes alive for Bostian Heights students
    Salisbury Post, NC - 17 hours ago
    BOSTIAN HEIGHTS — Donna Rymer, who teaches academically-gifted classes at Bostian Heights Elementary, said students these days don't know much about poetry. ...

    Contest gives Blue Ridge students new appreciation for poetry
    Greenville News, SC - 18 hours ago
    His performance landed him a spot at Blue Ridge's schoolwide "Poetry Out Loud" competition, which was scheduled for Dec. 1 in the school's auditorium. ...

    Politics and poetry should not be mixed
    WalesOnline, United Kingdom - 15 hours ago
    ... constituents are rightly annoyed that two of my colleagues have offered Patrick Jones a platform at the Assembly to read what he refers to as “poetry”. ...

    Wrestling with loss: Finding the kingdom of heaven after hell on Earth
    Belleville News Democrat,  USA - 12 hours ago
    At the very same time, he says he inexplicably uncovered two buried treasures -- a gift for poetry and a deep faith in God. He shares both in his book, ...
    poetry - Google News

    • Anne Bradstreet, To My Dear and Loving Husband, A Discussion

    "To My Dear and Loving Husband" was written by America's first female poet, the Puritan, Anne Bradstreet. In fact, Anne Bradstreet is one of only a handful of female American poets during the... Read More

    My Grannio

    I never thought I would have to say GOODBYE to my best friend? But that's what I had to do today I had to let go of her forever ?There was no other... Read More

    Infected Ideologies [a Poetic Portrait]

    the disease of extremism is infectious-; whoever cannot think of their child growing up without it is part of the phenomenon! (the choice of the day). fanaticism,-- with a powerful ideology are seeds... Read More

    How to Write Bad Poetry

    "All bad poetry springs from genuine feeling."--Oscar WildePeople write poetry for a plethora of reasons, but this article has a sharpened arrowhead aimed directly at the fingertips of amateur poets who wish to... Read More

    Ballade of an Inca King

    Ah! Leave the gold, wealth and landSays the Inca King?; In Spain, they leave the bustling streets, For sail to Peruvian shores;The murmur of the gold is sweet,It glows and glistens like the... Read More

    Poetry and Popular Culture

    Is poetry too complicated for the average reader? Is it too cryptic, scholarly? If you ask a large group of average people what they like or don't like about poetry, you'll get a... Read More

    Im Sorry Mom! A Mothers Day Poem

    Mother's Day Poetry,I'm Sorry Mom!I'm sorry for the troubles And the worries I brought you. I'm sorry for my mistakes, I didn't mean to make you blue.When I was young and... Read More

    Poetry ?Reborn? Emerges In Thriller Mystery Novel

    Since Mohamed Ali?then Cassius Clay?announced that he had written "The world's shortest poem," I have known that I would be a poet. "ME? WHEE!" His triumphant proclamation evoking shivers within my troubled teenaged... Read More

    Two Poems: Black Poncho, and Spirits of de Copan [in English and Spanish]

    English Version12) Black Poncho(of Saint Cosme Hill, by Lima, Peru)Lost in the grottos of Peru- By the hills of Huancayo Black Poncho was given A treasure of gold?; By none other than,... Read More

    Shadows of the Andes; Ollantayambo; and Cesar Vallejo [Poems in English and Spanish]

    1) Shadows of the Andes [or: Song to the Andes]I shall blend-in, into theMountains- Into the faintest thinShadowsof the mountains! Like the moss on moistenedStoneLike a leaf blown far fromHome?(freshly fallen)!I shall blend-in,... Read More

    Writing Innovative Poetry

    Writing innovative poetry, the kind of poetry that reputable literary journals publish, entails knowing exactly what each word of a poem does to the reader. A good poem should be evocative, skillful, and... Read More

    A Dose of Laughter

    I'm not well. Can't you tell? Kinda low, so, give me a dose of laughter.Mirth will heal my every ill and give me rest from my distress. Now, give me a dose... Read More

    Its What She Didnt Say

    When I hear your voice inside my head it makes me think of you every single day as I fight back tears of sadness and wonder if you're okayMy life is empty without... Read More

    Never Ever More

    Once upon a midnight dreary, coffee cold and vision bleary, all night sat there writing COBOL, coding spread across the bed sheets, changing syntax for the mainframe, having checked... Read More

    Two Poems with Triggers [and a commentary]

    So Many Einstein'sThe morning mist, insists there is a God. The earth remains faithful to its orbit. The comet cries out to a hundred planets.The sun ascends over the horizon. From eight to... Read More

    Lima, City with the Stretched out Wings [In English and Spanish]

    Lima, City with the Stretched out WingsIt's an ink-black night: no stars: a moon in sightJust dots of: red, green and white-white lightsAs the plane descends, descends, slides down On the... Read More

    Exalted Poetry; Two poem [and commentary]

    Bells for Belphegor!...Where immortal veils never meet Belphegor, Arch devil speaks: In vagaries form, With signs and signatures not yet born-; The Tagaririm, order of the demon: They come to meet, the King... Read More

    Ole Bulky Jeeps & Paper, Ink and Rain [two Peoms]

    Ole Bulky JeepsThrough late summer's heat These bulky shaped jeeps Ride by house and farm City and barn-Hungry for Spring-again, hoping to avoid The Slipping and sliding Of winter's ice and wind?[s]Their weighty... Read More

    My Final Defeat - Fixed Competition

    She probably can't remember and I know I can never forget...the first time I saw her like that I was only nine years-oldnot naive by any stretchhaving seen my share of tragedy-my parent's... Read More

    Mechanical Poetry; Part Two

    What do you do when you want to write poetry? I hope your answer is "I start writing." Even writing a bad poem is better than waiting for the "right words." You can... Read More

    A Happiness Poem

    If a happiness poem could bring forth a smile, Then my face would always dress in style.If my ears could hear my computer screen, From one to another, they, too, would grin.My keyboard... Read More

    Footprints to Mantaro Valley (a poem in Spanish and English)

    Footprints to Mantaro Valley (English version)In what retreat art hid?-Where falling mountains groan In shadow and amongThe rapids of the Rio? Is not your name Mantaro Valley?Beyond the footprints of the Andes--?I can... Read More

    Looking Out the Rear Window

    The funeral rite concluded With the pastor shaking hands, Offering words of comfort I didn't quite understand.The undertakers came forth And summoned pallbearers' four. They marched beside the coffin Carrying it steady toward... Read More

    The Time Has Come and Buzzing

    Most of my poems are written late at night, often, as this one was, after I have turned out the lights to go to sleep. It seems that is the time when I... Read More

    Tale of the: Old Hunter and the Golden Hare [In SPANISH and English now]

    There once lived an old man and his goodwife On the edge of the thick of the woods; They lived in an old run-down shack For forty-years and some. The old man hunted... Read More

    Three Poems (While in Transition/English and Spanish)

    Here are three more poems by the author, Dennis Siluk, while traveling througout Central and South America.Three Poems While in Transition (In Spanish and English)Poem OneEnglish VersionOrange Timid MoonO?er the Copan... Read More

    Three Poems: Liberty, Death, and a Frog [with Commentary on Liberty]

    Frog SummerSummer grows hot, for the New-blooded frogs; The bugs are thin, yet the Frogs stay fat, young and sassy. In these palsy times-they Only listen, as we wither away.Night fritters-away in... Read More

    Grandpas House & From Iraq with Love [Two Poems]

    Grandpa's House [The ole Real House]The house needed painting Sun-blistered and flaking Grandpa started to have us Boys-Mike and I- start Doing some scraping-While he, pealed off the ole Paint, and started painting?Just... Read More

    Feelings, O How Glorious!

    Sometimes we feel hard-pressed, Our backs against the wall; Sometimes we feel lightheaded, As if we are going to fall.Sometimes we feel fierce anger At those who misuse guns; ... Read More

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