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Poet Quotes

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Poet Quotes

“Someone told me just recently that poets are eulogists. It's their job, to eulogize. I didn't know that, but it makes sense. Because in almost every poem of mine there is a loss.”

Knows Jobs Loss Mines Poet Make Sense

Author:Dan Quisenberry

“The job of the poet is to use language effectively, his own language, the only language which is to him authentic.”

Use Jobs Language Poet

Author:William Carlos Williams

“Poems are taught as though the poet has put a secret key in his words and it is the reader's job to find it. Poems are not mystery novels.”

Jobs Poetry Secret Novel Mystery Taught Poet Keys Reader Mystery Novels

Book:Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within

Source: Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within

“Being a poet is not a job or a profession but a way of life.”

Way Jobs Poet Profession

Author:Kathleen Raine

“Poetry examines an emotional truth. It's an experience filtered through the personality of the poet. We look to poetry for visions, not scientific truths. The poet's job is to combine new elements. Explore their melting, seeping into one another.”

Looks Jobs Poetry Vision Emotional Poet Personality Elements Melting Scientific Truth

Book:Claiming Breath

Source: Claiming Breath

“To cook, and to do it well, every talent must be used; the strength of a prize-fighter, the imagination of a poet, the brain of an empire builder, the patience of Job, the eye and the touch of an artist, and, to turn your mistakes into edible assets, the cleverness of a politician.”

Wells Eye Jobs Used Artist Turns Imagination Mistake Brain Talent Poet Politician Cooking Fighter Cooks Empires Prize Assets Cleverness Builder

Author:Anne Ellis

“Fighting for one's freedom, struggling towards being free, is like struggling to be a poet or a good Christian or a good Jew or a good Muslim or good Zen Buddhist. You work all day long and achieve some kind of level of success by nightfall, go to sleep and wake up the next morning with the job still to be done. So you start all over again.”

Kind Long Stills Done Christian Jobs Fighting Next Sleep Levels Morning Struggle Achieve Poet Wake Up Jew Buddhist Going To Sleep Being Free Good Christian Nightfall Zen Buddhist

Author:Maya Angelou

“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.'”

People Knows Has Beens Made Problem Inspiration Jobs Artist Certain Born Imagination Groups Poet Calling Difficulty Curiosity Privilege Solve Chosen Exclusive Setback Swarms

Author:Wislawa Szymborska

“The job of the poet (a job which can't be learned) consists of placing those objects of the visible world which have become invisible due to the glue of habit, in an unusual position which strikes the soul and gives them a tragic force.”

World Giving Art Soul Jobs Poetry Force Position Objects Poet Habit Dues Strikes Invisible Visible Tragic Unusual Glue

Author:Jean Cocteau

“Every poem, formal or free, has an ideal shape, and the job of the poet is to find it.”

Jobs Poet Shapes Ideals Formal

Author:Peter Meinke

“Our job is to become more and more of what we are. The growth of a poet seems to be related to his or her becoming less and less embarrassed about more and more.”

Seems Jobs Growth Poet Becoming Related Embarrassed

Book:Old snow just melting: essays and interviews

Source: Old snow just melting: essays and interviews

“The formula for doing a good job in photography is to think like a poet.”

Thinking Jobs Poet Photography Formulas Good Job

Author:Imogen Cunningham

“I guess what inspires me most is the desire to draw out feelings that feel best expressed on the written page by really good authors, and I'm not a really good author. I feel like my job as a filmmaker is to eff the ineffable, to take feelings that only poets could describe with words and try to project them on the screen for viewers to feel. I don't think I've succeeded once but in the act of trying I've come up with all these other results which sometimes intrigue me.”

Thinking Feels Trying Sometimes Feelings Jobs Desire Results Written Inspire Poet Projects Pages Draws Come Up Screens Filmmaker Viewers Intrigue Ineffable Good Authors

Author:Guy Maddin

“It gives a man character as a poet to have a daily contact with a job. I doubt whether I've lost a thing by leading an exceedingly regular and disciplined life.”

Men Giving Character Jobs Lost Doubt Poet Contact Disciplined Life

Author:Wallace Stevens

“I agree that comedy does a good job - and is often about - stepping over the line - Lenny Bruce, etc. - and that this is important for a lot of poets too. I guess I feel like there has to be depth.”

Feels Doe Important Jobs Lines Comedy Poet Agree Depth Etc Good Job

Author:Rachel Zucker

“I haven't seen any poet in this country behave nearly as rudely as Newt Gingrich or Bill O'Reilly. I'm not asking these people to approve of everyone's manners. I don't feel obliged to defend the manners of every poet who submits a poem to my web site. That's not my job. My job is to provide them with an opportunity to speak from the heart. If there's not much in the heart and if the mouth is running wild, that's not my problem.”

People Ifs Feels Heart Country Problem Running Jobs Opportunity Speak Havens Poet Mouths Asking Bills Manners Behave Submit Site Obliged Newts Bill O Reilly Running Wild Speak From The Heart

Author:Sam Hamill

“I think in terms of educating a group of readers, MFA programs are very good. I just think the model of MFA programs in which a young poet goes through the program, publishes a series of books, gets teaching jobs, that's a bit at risk.”

Thinking Book Jobs Young Bits Term Risk Groups Teaching Poet Reader Models Program Series Very Good Publish

Author:Edward Hirsch

“My focus is on the reader and that the poet's job is not to inspire himself or herself. The poet's job is to inspire some future reader. And so, as a reader you have a task to do in finding those bottles and opening up the messages and experiencing what's in them inside of yourself.”

Jobs Focus Inspire Poet Reader Findings Messages Tasks Opening Bottles Opening Up

Author:Edward Hirsch

“I think Walt Whitman went to the help wanted section and found a squib that said "Wanted: National Poet." And he was innocent enough to believe there really was such a job. And if he could just write a poem that incorporated everything he felt and suspected and hoped for from America that he would have the position.”

Ifs Thinking Writing Believe Said Enough Helping Wanted Jobs America Found Felt Position Poet Innocent Sections Walt

Author:Allan Gurganus

“The poet's job is to put into words those feelings we all have that are so deep, so important, and yet so difficult to name, to tell the truth in such a beautiful way, that people cannot live without it.”

People Way Important Feelings Truth Jobs Beautiful Names Difficult Poet Telling The Truth

Author:Jane Kenyon