“Books and newspapers assume a "common reader" that is, a person who knows the things known by other literate persons in the culture. Obviously, such assumptions are never identical from writer to writer, but they show a remarkable consistency” KnowsPersonsBookShowsCultureCommonKnownKnowledgeReaderAssumingNewspapersAssumptionRemarkableConsistencyIdentical Author:Edward Hirsch
“There has never been a great poet who wasn't also a great reader of poetry.” PoetReaderGreat Poet Author:Edward Hirsch
“There's been no poet, no great poet in the history of poetry who hasn't also been a great reader of poetry. This is sometimes distressing to my students when I tell them this.” SometimesStudentsPoetReaderGreat PoetDistressing Author:Edward Hirsch
“Now, I do say, "It's possible. You might be the first. I'm not saying it's impossible, but the odds are very much against you." All great poets have been great readers and the way to learn your craft in poetry is by reading other poetry and by letting it guide you.” WayFirstsHas BeensMightReadingImpossiblePoetReaderGuidesCraftsPoetry IsOddsGreat Poet Author:Edward Hirsch
“I would be happier if people who went through MFA programs also were already, by then, deeply committed readers of poetry because we need readers of poetry as much as writers of poetry.” PeopleIfsNeedsWould BeReaderProgramCommittedPoetry Is Author:Edward Hirsch
“I think in terms of educating a group of readers, MFA programs are very good. I just think the model of MFA programs in which a young poet goes through the program, publishes a series of books, gets teaching jobs, that's a bit at risk.” ThinkingBookJobsYoungBitsTermRiskGroupsTeachingPoetReaderModelsProgramSeriesVery GoodPublish Author:Edward Hirsch
“The idea of how to read a poem is based on the idea that poetry needs you as a reader. That the experience of poetry, the meaning in poetry is a kind of circuit that takes place between a poet, a poem and a reader and that meaning doesn't exist or in here in poems alone.” NeedsKindIdeasPoetReaderPoetry IsNeed YouCircuits Author:Edward Hirsch
“Readers bring their own experiences, their own range of - their own wisdom, their own knowledge, their own insights to poem and the meaning of a poem takes place in the negotiation between the poet, the poem and the reader.” PoetReaderInsightRangeNegotiation Author:Edward Hirsch
“As a reader you have a task to do, you have something to do. You bring your experience to it. It's not all inherit in the poem.” ReaderTasks Author:Edward Hirsch
“The idea of a poem as a message in a bottle means that it's sent out towards some future reader and the reader who opens that bottle becomes the addressee of the literary text.” MeanIdeasReaderMessagesBottlesMessage In A Bottle Author:Edward Hirsch
“When you find it you become the secret addressee of a literary text and I felt that their reader had been left out of this experience of reading poetry or what the experience of poetry was.” ReadingLeftFeltSecretReaderLeft OutReading Poetry Author:Edward Hirsch
“My focus is on the reader and that the poet's job is not to inspire himself or herself. The poet's job is to inspire some future reader. And so, as a reader you have a task to do in finding those bottles and opening up the messages and experiencing what's in them inside of yourself.” JobsFocusInspirePoetReaderFindingsMessagesTasksOpeningBottlesOpening Up Author:Edward Hirsch
