“The writing of a poem is like a child throwing stones into a mineshaft. You compose first, then you listen for the reverberation.” WritingFirstsChildrenPoetryStonesThrowingWriting PoetryReverberationPoetry ReadingThrowing Stones Author:James Fenton
“An aria in an opera - Handel's 'Ombra mai fu,' for example - gets along with an incredibly small number of words and ideas and a large amount of variation and repetition. That's the beauty of it. It's not taxing to the listener's intelligence because if you haven't heard it the first time round, it'll come around again.” IfsFirstsIdeasNumbersHeardHavensExampleAmountFirst TimeRoundsOperaListenersRepetitionVariationSmall NumbersAriaHandel Author:James Fenton
“Generally speaking, rhyme is the marker for the end of a line. The first rhyme-word is like a challenge thrown down, which the poem itself has to respond to.” FirstsEndsChallengesLinesThrownRhymeMarkers Author:James Fenton
“For poets today or in any age, the choice is not between freedom on the one hand and abstruse French forms on the other. The choice is between the nullity and vanity of our first efforts, and the developing of a sense of idiom, form, structure, metre, rhythm, line - all the fundamental characteristics of this verbal art.” FirstsArtHandsAgeTodayFormChoicesLinesEffortPoetFundamentalsStructureRhythmVanityDevelopingCharacteristicsIdiom Author:James Fenton
“A really interesting and happy time was when I first went to Florence as a student and studied Italian. I was living in a pensione on an allowance of £40 a month, which was princely. I did a lot of work and enjoyed myself immensely.” FirstsInterestingStudentsMonthsEnjoyedItalianReally InterestingAllowanceFlorenceHappy Times Author:James Fenton
