“And thus, in full, there are four classes: the men who feel nothing, and therefore see truly; the men who feel strongly, think weakly, and see untruly (second order of poets); the men who feel strongly, think strongly, and see truly (first order of poets); and the men who, strong as human creatures can be, are yet submitted to influences stronger than they, and see in a sort untruly, because what they see is inconceivably above them. This last is the usual condition of prophetic inspiration.” ThinkingMenFeelsFirstsHumansInspirationLastsOrderStrongClassFourInfluenceConditionsHe ManPoetCreaturesStrongerUsualProphetic Book:The Genius of John Ruskin: Selections from His Writings Source: The Genius of John Ruskin: Selections from His Writings
“I see cities as organisms, as living creatures. To me Madrid is a man and Barcelona is a woman. And it's a woman who's extremely vain. One of the great Catalan poets, Joan Maragall, wrote this famous poem in which he called Barcelona the great enchantress, or some kind of sorceress, and in which the city has this dark enticing presence that seduces and lures people. I think Barcelona has a lot of that.” PeopleThinkingMenKindDarkCitiesPoetCreaturesVainOrganismsLureSeducingLiving CreaturesBarcelonaMadridEnticingSorceressEnchantress Author:Carlos Ruiz Zafon
“The difference between prose logic and poetic thought is simple. The logician uses words as a builder uses bricks, for the unemotional deadness of his academic prose; and is always coining newer, deader words with a natural preference for Greek formations. The poet avoids the entire vocabulary of logic unless for satiric purposes, and treats words as living creatures with a preference for those with long emotional histories dating from mediaeval times. Poetry at its purest is, indeed, a defiance of logic.” LongUsePoetryPurposeNaturalDifferencesSimpleEmotionalPoetCreaturesLogicTreatsDatingGreekProsePoeticAcademicVocabularyPreferenceBricksFormationDefianceBuilderLiving CreaturesUnemotionalTime Poetry Book:Some speculations on literature, history, and religion Source: Some speculations on literature, history, and religion
“One time on a dive, I wound up drifting up in darkness surrounded by billions of photoluminescent creatures. It was a religious experience, one only a poet could do justice to.” ReligiousJusticeDarknessPoetCreaturesWoundsBillionsOne TimeDriftingReligious Experience Author:Graham Hawkes
“A poet is an unhappy creature whose heart is tortured by deepest suffering but whose lips are so formed that when his sighs and cries stream out over them, their sound beomes like the sound of beautiful music . . . . And men flock about the poet saying, Sing for us soon again; that is to say, may new sufferings torture your soul, and may your lips continue to be formed as before.” MenHeartMaySoulBeautifulSufferingSoundCryPoetCreaturesLipsUnhappyYour SoulTortureStreamsSighFlocksBeautiful Music Author:Soren Kierkegaard