“Great statesmen seem to direct and rule by a sort of power to put themselves in the place of the nation over which they are set, and may thus be said to possess the souls of poets at the same time they display the coarser sense and the more vulgar sagacity of practical men of business.” MenMaySaidSoulSeemsNationsVisionPoetDirectPracticalsDisplayVulgarStatesmenStatesmanshipSagacity Book:The Public Papers of Woodrow Wilson: Authorized Ed Source: The Public Papers of Woodrow Wilson: Authorized Ed
“Poetry is the most direct and simple means of expressing oneself in words: the most primitive nations have poetry, but only quitewell developed civilizations can produce good prose. So don't think of poetry as a perverse and unnatural way of distorting ordinary prose statements: prose is a much less natural way of speaking than poetry is. If you listen to small children, and to the amount of chanting and singsong in their speech, you'll see what I mean.” IfsThinkingWayMeanChildrenPoetryNationsNaturalSimpleProducePoetAmountCivilizationSpeechOrdinaryDirectOneselfStatementsProsePoetry IsPrimitiveUnnaturalSmall ChildChantingExpressing Oneself Author:Northrop Frye
“There's this pet phrase about writing that is bandied around particularly in workshops about "finding your own voice as a poet", which I suppose means that you come out from under the direct influence of other poets and have perhaps found a way to combine those influences so that it appears to be your own voice.” WayWritingMeanFoundVoiceInfluencePoetFindingsDirectPhrasesPetWorkshops Author:Billy Collins
“I wrote a number of poems about Kah Tai lagoon, when Safeway was building that huge, ugly store down there where I used to love to watch the birds nest. That political poem, or environmental poem, was unsuccessful because Safeway built there anyway. And yet the poem has something to say today, as it did then. And I speak here only of my own poems. The agenda for every poet has to be different because most of us write from direct human experience in the world.” WorldWritingHumansDifferentTodayPoliticalUsedSpeakMy OwnNumbersWatchesBuildingPoetHugeBirdBuiltDirectEnvironmentalUglyStoresAgendasHuman ExperienceNestsUnsuccessfulUsed To LoveLagoons Author:Sam Hamill
“There's this pet phrase about writing that is bandied around particularly in workshops about "finding your own voice as a poet", which I suppose means that you come out from under the direct influence of other poets and have perhaps found a way to combine those influences so that it appears to be your own voice. But I think you could also put it a different way. You, quote, find your voice, unquote, when you are able to invent this one character who resembles you, obviously, and probably is more like you than anyone else on earth, but is not the equivalent to you.” ThinkingWayWritingMeanDifferentCharacterAbleEarthFoundVoiceInfluencePoetLike YouFindingsDirectDifferent WaysPhrasesPetWorkshops Author:Billy Collins
“It is hard to compare cultures without overgeneralizing, but I think a lot of American poetry has an assertiveness - an upbeat quality - that's less typical of Canadian poetry. Of course there are poets in both countries to whom that generalization does not apply. Speaking broadly, I'd describe Canadians as being a bit more reserved than Americans. Not less opinionated - just less direct.” ThinkingCountryCultureQualityPoetDirectCompareAssertivenessUpbeat Author:James Arthur