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Quote by Richard Wilbur

“That's the main business of the poem!-to see if you can't make up a language that sets all your selves talking at once-all of them being fair to each other.”

Quote by Richard Wilbur

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Richard Wilbur
Richard Wilbur

Richard Wilbur is an American poet renowned for his elegant style and profound themes. His works blend classical and modern elements, earning him the admiration of readers and critics alike. more

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“Loneliness is necessary for pure poetry. When someone intrudes into the poet's life (and any sudden personal contact, whether in the bed or in the heart, is an intrusion) the poet loses his or her balance for a moment, slips into being what he or she is, uses his or her poetry as one would use money or sympathy. The person who writes the poetry emerges, tentatively, like a hermit crab from a conch shell. The poet, for that instant, ceases to be a dead person.”

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“One day while studying a Yeats poem I decided to write poetry the rest of my life. I recognized that a single short poem has room for history, music, psychology, religious thought, mood, occult speculation, character, and events of one's own life. I still feel surprised that such various substances can find shelter and nourishment in a poem. A poem in fact may be a sort of nourishing liquid, such as one uses to keep an amoeba alive. If prepared right, a poem can keep an image or a thought or insights on history or the psyche alive for years, as well as our desires and airy impulses.”

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“At noon, on the Fourth of July, 1826, while the Liberty Bell was again sounding its old message to the people of Philadelphia, the soul of Thomas Jefferson passed on; and a few hours later John Adams entered into rest, with the name of his old friend upon his lips.”

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Book:The age of Jefferson and Marshall: Part 1: Jefferson and his colleagues, by Allen Johnson. Part 2: John Marshall and the Constitution, by Edward S. Crowin
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