“Imagism was a reductio ad absurdum of one or two tendencies of romanticism, such a beautifully and finally absurd one that it is hard to believe it existed as anything but a logical construction; and what imagist found it possible to go on writing imagist poetry? A number of poets have stopped writing entirely; others, like recurring decimals, repeat the novelties they commeced with, each time less valuably than before. And there are surrealist poetry, and political poetry, and all the othe refuges of the indigent.” WritingBelieveTwoHardPoliticalFoundNumbersPoetGoes OnAbsurdTendenciesRepeatsLogicalAdsConstructionRefugeNoveltyRomanticismHard To BelieveRecurringSurrealistDecimals Author:Randall Jarrell
“It seems to me a purely lyric poet gives himself, right down to his sex, to his mood, utterly and abandonedly, whirls himself roundtill he spontaneously combusts into verse. He has nothing that goes on, no passion, only a few intense moods, separate like odd stars, and when each has burned away, he must die.” GivingSeemsPoetryDiesPassionStarsSexPoetGoes OnMoodIntenseOddBurnedVerses Author:D. H. Lawrence
“It is a curious thing how poets tend to become ascetics.... Even a debauch for them is a self-flagellation. They go on the loose in cruelty against themselves, admitting that they are pandering to, and despising, the lower self.” SelfPoetryPoetGoes OnCrueltyCuriousAdmitting Book:The Letters of D. H. Lawrence Source: The Letters of D. H. Lawrence
“A poet sees a flower and can go on and on about how beautiful the colors are. But what the poet doesn't see is the xylem and the phloem and the pollen and the thousands of generations of breeding and the billions of years before that. All of that is only available to the scientists.” YearsBeautifulGenerationsColorPoetFlowerGoes OnScientistAvailableBillionsBreedingPollen Author:George M. Church
“Poets will never be the highest-paid writers in the world. Instead, poetry will go on cutting a hand-made path through the mass-market insanity. For me, anyway, that path is the one that leads to the Chapel of the Grail.” WorldMadeHandsPathCuttingPoetGoes OnHighestMassPaidInsanityChapel Author:Jeanette Winterson