“A poet needs to keep his wilderness alive inside him.” NeedsAlivePoetWilderness Author:Stanley Kunitz
“I refuse to turn to theology to justify the life or redeem it. There is a question always of the connection to the eternal. I say to myself above all, keep alive your conviction that there are sacred elements in the life in the practice of the life that must be respected. But the conviction in the existence of the sacred does not necessarily imply that you need to believe in a creator, because we are the ones that made the sacred.” NeedsBelieveDoeMadeTurnsExistencePracticeAliveElementsEternalConnectionsSacredRefuseConvictionCreatorTheologyJustify Author:Stanley Kunitz
“A poet needs to keep his wilderness alive inside him. To remain a poet after forty requires an awareness of your darkest Africa, that part of yourself that will never be tamed.” NeedsAliveAwarenessPoetFortyWildernessTamed Author:Stanley Kunitz
“To conquer a piece of earth and make it as beautiful as one can dream of it being: That is art, too. A man cannot be separated from the earth. I come out of the garden every day feeling, oh, inspired in a way that one needs in order to convert the daily-ness of the life into something greater than that little life itself.” MenWayNeedsLittlesArtFeelingsDreamEarthBeautifulOrderGreaterPiecesDesignGardenInspiredConquer Author:Stanley Kunitz
“Not that you need to be a saint to have visions worth talking about. The most effective prescription, I suspect, is to be a disciplined sinner. Perfection, as Valery noted, is work.” NeedsTalkingVisionPerfectionSaintSinnerSuspectsPrescriptions Author:Stanley Kunitz
“Some poems present themselves as cliffs that need to be climbed. Others are so defensive that when you approach their enclosure you half expect to be met by a snarling dog at the gate. Still others want to smother you with their sticky charms.” WantNeedsStillsHalfDogMetsApproachCharmGatesCliffsStickyEnclosureSnarling Author:Stanley Kunitz
“Poetry is ultimately mythology, the telling of stories of the soul. The old myths, the old gods, the old heroes have never died. They are only sleeping at the bottom of our minds, waiting for our call. We have need of them, for in their sum they epitomize the wisdom and experience of the race.” NeedsMindSoulStoriesWaitingSleepRaceHeroDiedBottomMythMythologyPoetry IsWisdom And Experience Author:Stanley Kunitz
