“In the Middle Ages, the troubadour poets invented the concept of courtly love--a fantasy love, a noble passion, which was also extra-marital and thus inevitably thwarted, illicit, adulterous. One of the medieval terms for it was amour honestus (honest love). I've always wondered why this passionate ideal--masochistic, spiritual-travelled with such wildfire throughout Europe. My poem, a ghazal, takes up the subject.” AgeSpiritualPassionTermFantasyMiddleSubjectsHonestPoetConceptsEuropeIdealsPassionateNobleExtrasMiddle AgesMedievalAmourWildfiresMasochisticTroubadoursFantasy LoveHonest Love Author:Edward Hirsch
“Mervyn Peake is a finer poet than Edgar Allan Poe, and he is therefore able to maintain his world of fantasy brilliantly through three novels. It (Gormenghast trilogy) is a very, very great work ... a classic of our age.” WorldAgeAbleThreeFantasyNovelPoetClassicGreat WorkTrilogiesAllan PoeGormenghast Book:The Gormenghast Novels Source: The Gormenghast Novels
“... in a history of spiritual rupture, a social compact built on fantasy and collective secrets, poetry becomes more necessary than ever: it keeps the underground aquifers flowing; it is the liquid voice that can wear through stone.” SpiritualSpiritPoetrySocialVoiceSecretFantasyPoetBuiltStonesCollectivesPoetry IsLiquidCompactRuptureAquifers Book:What Is Found There: Notebooks on Poetry and Politics (Expanded Edition) Source: What Is Found There: Notebooks on Poetry and Politics (Expanded Edition)
“My path to poetry was slow and meandering. When I eventually found my way to graduate school at 29, making a life as a poet seemed like a bohemian fantasy. But maybe my zigzagging trajectory is just an excuse for tardiness, when fear is really the root of any reason I might give. My perfectionism and pace are certainly driven by fear that a poem is imperfect or incomplete. More significantly, my struggle to fully dedicate myself to poetry was a fear of failure.” GivingReasonSchoolFantasyStrugglePathPoetExcuseDrivenMy WayGraduatesImperfectFear Of FailureIncompletePerfectionismGraduate SchoolBohemianMy Struggle Author:Robin Beth Schaer
“The poet does not fear death, not because he believes in the fantasy of heroes, but because death constantly visits his thoughts and is thus an image of a serene dialogue.” BelieveDoeFantasyPoetHeroQuietDialogueFear Of DeathSerene Author:Salvatore Quasimodo
“Why should the composer be more guilty than the poet who warms to fantasy by a strange flame, making an idea that inspires him the subject of his own very different treatment?” ShouldIdeasDifferentFantasySubjectsInspireStrangePoetGuiltyFlamesTreatmentComposer Author:Franz Schubert