“The work of the painter, the poet or the musician, like the myths and symbols of the savage, ought to be seen by us, if not as a superior form of knowledge, at least as the most fundamental and the only one really common to us all; scientific thought is merely the sharp point more penetrating because it has been whetted on the stone of fact, but at the cost of some loss of substance and its effectiveness is to be explained by its power to pierce sufficiently deeply for the main body of the tool to follow the head.” IfsHas BeensFactsBodyFormLossCommonPoetOughtCostMusicianToolsStonesFundamentalsMythSuperiorsPainterSymbolsSubstanceSavagesEffectivenessPierce Book:Tristes Tropiques Source: Tristes Tropiques
“The modern sensibility attempts to drain the contents of experience; these Greek poets strive to state the fact so poignantly that it becomes an ever-flowing spring as Sappho says, "More real than real, more gold than gold.” RealStatesFactsModernPoetSpringGoldStriveGreekSensibilityDrains Book:Classics Revisited Source: Classics Revisited
“Joy is a part of my process. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that poetry, as a practice, necessitates a sense of joy. It's exhilarating to come into contact with the things we write into being. And a real sense of play and abandon even when we are relying on hard-won technique, and even when the aim is deadly serious. How often do we get the excuse to stop, think, and then stop thinking altogether and try to listen to what sits behind our outside of our thoughts? Poets are lucky.” ThinkingWritingTryingRealHardPlayFactsJoyPoetryProcessBehindsPracticeSeriousPoetLuckyAimExcuseTechniqueContactAbandonOur ThoughtsExhilarating Author:Tracy K. Smith