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Quote by Dana Gioia

“In an age of global standardization, regional voices also remind both writer and reader that no life is lived generically. If the purpose of literature is truly, as the ancients insisted, to instruct and delight, then what better to understand and enjoy than the here and the now?”

Quote by Dana Gioia

Author

Dana Gioia, born on December 24, 1950, is an accomplished American poet known for his profound emotions and rich imagination in his works. more

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“To speak from a particular place and time is not provincialism but part of a writer's identity.”

Speak Identity Particular Place And Time Provincialism

Author:Dana Gioia

“Old empires always appeal to modern poets more than new ones.”

Modern Poet Appeals Empires

Book:Barrier of a common language: an American looks at contemporary British poetry

Source: Barrier of a common language: an American looks at contemporary British poetry

“Poetry is not a creed or dogma. It is a special way of speaking and listening.”

Way Special Listening Poetry Is Creeds Dogma

Author:Dana Gioia

“Once an author finishes a poem, he becomes merely another reader. I may remember what I intended to put into a text, but what matters is what a reader actually finds there which is usually something both more and less than the poet planned.”

May Matter Remember Poet Reader What Matters

Author:Dana Gioia

“Twisting through the thorn-thick underbrush, scratched and exhausted, one turns suddenly to find an unexpected waterfall, not half a mile from the nearest road, a spot so hard to reach that no one comes a hiding place, a shrine for dragonflies and nesting jays, a sign that there is still one piece of property that won't be owned.”

Stills Hard Turns Half Pieces Property Miles Spots Unexpected Hiding Thick Exhausted One Piece Shrines Waterfalls Hiding Place Dragonflies

Book:99 Poems: New & Selected

Source: 99 Poems: New & Selected

“The autumn comes, a maiden fair In slenderness and grace, With nodding rice-stems in her hair And lilies in her face. In flowers of grasses she is clad; And as she moves along, Birds greet her with their cooing glad Like bracelets' tinkling song.”

Faces Moving Song Grace Flower Hair Bird Fairs Glad Grass Autumn Stem Rice Lilies Maidens Nodding Bracelet

Book:Kalidasa translations of Shakuntala, and other works

Source: Kalidasa translations of Shakuntala, and other works

“Today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness.”

“Jesus reminds us that prayer is a little like children coming to their parents. Our children come to us with the craziest requests at times! Often we are grieved by the meanness and selfishness in their requests, but we would be all the more grieved if they never came to us even with their meanness and selfishness. We are simply glad that they do come--mixed motives and all.”

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Book:Prayer - 10th Anniversary Edition: Finding the Heart's True Home

Source: Prayer - 10th Anniversary Edition: Finding the Heart's True Home

“Whether or not enlightenment is possible at the moment of death, the practices that prepare one for this possibility also bring one closer to the bone of life.”

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Book:Being with Dying: Cultivating Compassion and Fearlessness in the Presence of Death

Source: Being with Dying: Cultivating Compassion and Fearlessness in the Presence of Death

“The mathematicians know a great deal about very little and the physicists very little about a great deal.”

Knows Littles Deals Mathematician Physicist

Author:Stanislaw Ulam