“Inspiration is not the exclusive privilege of poets or artists. There is, there has been, there will always be a certain group of people whom inspiration visits. It's made up of all those who've consciously chosen their calling and do their job with love and imagination. Difficulties and setbacks never quell their curiosity. A swarm of new questions emerges from every problem that they solve. Whatever inspiration is, it's born from a continuous 'I don't know.'” PeopleKnowsHas BeensMadeProblemInspirationJobsArtistCertainBornImaginationGroupsPoetCallingDifficultyCuriosityPrivilegeSolveChosenExclusiveSetbackSwarms Author:Wislawa Szymborska
“I share my life experiences as a poet with my students. My poetic difficulties, joys, struggles and discoveries. If I read a new poem or essay or book I'm excited about, I bring it in.” IfsBookJoyStruggleShareStudentsPoetDiscoveryDifficultyExcitedPoeticLife ExperienceEssays Author:Dorianne Laux
“Poetry is difficult, I mean interesting poetry, not confessional babble or emotive propaganda. Reading a new poet is discovering an entire world, what Stevens called a 'mundo' and it takes a lot of time to orientate oneself in such a world. What we have to learn to do then, as teachers and militants of a poetic insurgency, is to encourage people to learn to love the difficulty of poetry. I simply do not understand much of the poetry that I love.” PeopleWorldMeanReadingDifficultInterestingTeacherPoetDifficultyOneselfPropagandaPoetry IsPoeticDiscoveringInsurgency Author:Simon Critchley
“You can recollect the sayings of great men, you treasure up verse of renowned poets; ought you not be equally profound in your knowledge of the words of God, so that you may be able to quote them readily when you would solve a difficulty or overthrow a doubt?” MenMayAbleDoubtPoetOughtDifficultyProfoundSolveTreasureGreat MenWord Of GodVersesRenowned Author:Charles Spurgeon
“Some difficulty is warranted and other difficulty I think is gratuitous. And I think I can tell the difference. There are certainly very difficult poets that I really enjoy reading.” ThinkingI CanReadingEnjoyDifficultDifferencesPoetDifficulty Author:Billy Collins
“Another trouble with poetry - and I'm gonna stop the list at two - is the presence of presumptuousness in poetry, the sense you get in a poem that the poet takes for granted an interest on the reader's part in the poet's autobiographical life, in the poet's memories, problems, difficulties and even minor perceptions.” TwoProblemInterestMemoriesTroublePoetReaderPerceptionDifficultyListsGrantedMinors Author:Billy Collins
“I've always been more than a little mystified by poets who seem to think talking to people as directly as possible is a bad thing. I mean, I don't want to set up a straw man here: I understand that for many poets - and for me, at times - writing truly means writing in a way that is difficult, simply because the poem is trying to grasp for something elusive. So the difficulty of the poem is just unavoidable, and not in any way artificially imposed. So "as possible" is the key part of the phrase above, I suppose.” PeopleThinkingMenWayWantWritingTryingMeanLittlesSeemsDifficultTalkingPoetKeysDifficultyPhrasesBad ThingsElusiveStraws Author:Matthew Zapruder
“A trouble with poetry is the presence of presumptuousness in poetry, the sense you get in a poem that the poet takes for granted an interest on the reader's part in the poet's autobiographical life, in the poet's memories, problems, difficulties and even minor perceptions. I try to presume that no one is interested in me. And I think experience bears that out. No one's interested in the experiences of a stranger - let's put it that way. And then you have difficulty combined with presumptuousness, which is the most dire trouble with poetry.” ThinkingWayTryingProblemInterestMemoriesTroublePoetBearsReaderPerceptionDifficultyStrangerGrantedPoetry IsMinors Author:Billy Collins
“A man is a poet if difficulties inherent in his art provide him with ideas; he is not a poet if they deprive him of ideas.” IfsMenArtIdeasPoetDifficultyInherent Author:Paul Valery