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Quote by Paul Valery

“A poet's work consists less in seeking words for his ideas than in seeking ideas for his words and predominant rhythms.”

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Paul Valery

Paul Valéry was a French poet, philosopher, and literary critic. Born on October 30, 1871, and died on July 20, 1945. Valéry is known for his profound poetry and philosophical thoughts, being an important representative of Symbolist literature. more

“Two opposing forces inhabit the poem: one of elevation or up-rooting, which pulls the word from the language: the other of gravity, which makes it return. The poem is an original and unique creation, but it is also reading and recitation: participation. The poet creates it; the people, by recitation, re-create it. Poet and reader are two moments of a single reality.”

Source: The Bow and the Lyre: The Poem, The Poetic Revelation, Poetry and History

“A work of (whatever) art can be either 'received' or 'used'. ...'Using' is inferior to 'reception' because art, if used rather than received, merely facilitates, brightens, relieves or palliates our life, and does not add to it ... When the art in question is literature a complication arises, for to 'receive' significant words is always, in one sense, to 'use' them, to go through and beyond them to an imagined something which is not itself verbal.”

Ifs Doe Art Use Used Poetry Literature Our Lives Add Significant Arise Inferiors Complication Facilitate Reception

Author:C. S. Lewis

“Pound had argued - and Eliot had helped him prove - that a poem could be sustained by memorable moments. Olson proved that it could be sustained by unmemorable ones, provided that the texture of the accumulated jottings avoided the sound of failed poetry.”

Moments Poetry Literature Sound Prove Memorable Pounds Avoided Texture Eliot Memorable Moments

Book:Poetry Notebook: 2006–2014

Source: Poetry Notebook: 2006–2014

Quote by Paul Valery

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