“Natural emotion is the soul of poetry, as melody is of music; the same faults are engendered by over-study of either art; there is a lack of sincerity, of irresistible impulse in both the poet and the, composer.” ArtSoulNaturalEmotionStudyPoetFaultsImpulseMelodySincerityComposerIrresistible Book:Poets of America Source: Poets of America
“The source of each accordant strain Lies deeper than the Poet's brain. First from the people's heart must spring The passions which he learns to sing; They are the wind, the harp is he, To voice their fitful melody,-- The language of their varying fate, Their pride, grief, love, ambition, hate,-- The talisman which holds inwrought The touchstone of the listener's thought; That penetrates each vain disguise, And brings his secret to his eyes.” PeopleFirstsHeartEyeLyingHatePassionLanguageVoiceGriefSecretBrainFatePoetWindSourcePrideAmbitionSpringDeeperVainHis EyesMelodyDisguiseListenersStrainPenetrateHarpsTouchstonesTalismans Book:The Poems Source: The Poems
“[On Elizabeth Barrett Browning:] ... for finish, and melody of versification, there is nothing approaching to Miss Barrett in this day, or in any other - also for diction. Her words paint.” MissingPoetPaintMelodyThis DayDiction Author:Mary Russell Mitford
“For the poets tell us, don't they, that the melodies they bring us are gathered from rills that run with honey, out of glens and gardens of the Muses, and they bring them as bees do honey, flying like the bees? And what they say is true, for a poet is a light and winged thing, and holy, and never able to compose until he has become inspired, and is beside himself, and reason is no longer in him. So long as he has this in his possession, no man is able to make poetry or to chant in prophecy.” MenInspirationalLongReasonLightRunningAblePoetryPoetHolyGardenMadnessInspiredPossessionFlyingMelodyHoneyBeesMuseProphecy Book:The Collected Dialogues of Plato: Including The Letters Source: The Collected Dialogues of Plato: Including The Letters
“I try to write lyrics that will be able to function on their own if they get separated from the music. But I wouldn't want to take anything away from poets, who work without the frames songwriters get from melody, and I think lyrics should be considered as their own thing.” IfsThinkingWantShouldWritingTryingAblePoetFunctionMelodySongwriters Author:John K. Samson
“If you're a poet and you're using rhyme, rhyme generates ideas. If you're a songwriter and you're using melody and words together, they bounce off each other in interesting ways that you couldn't get otherwise, because you do things unexpectedly.” TogetherInterestingPoetMelodyRhymeUsing Me Author:Momus