“A poet once said, "The whole universe is in a glass of wine." We will probably never know in what sense he meant that, for poets do not write to be understood. But it is true that if we look at a glass of wine closely enough we see the entire universe.” IfsKnowsWritingLooksSaidEnoughWholeUniversePoetUnderstoodWineGlassesWine Glass Book:The Feynman Lectures on Physics, vol. 1 for tablets Source: The Feynman Lectures on Physics, vol. 1 for tablets
“Poets yearn, of course, to be published, read, and understood, but they do little, if anything, to set themselves above the common herd and the daily grind.” IfsLittlesCoursesCommonPoetUnderstoodHerdsGrindDaily Grind Book:Poems, New and Collected, 1957-1997 Source: Poems, New and Collected, 1957-1997
“The revelatory or visionary is the province of the 'private' artist, who in order to render his personal world comprehensible or even tolerable, must force others to believe in it and therefore share it. It is said that 'the poet does not wish to be understood, but to be believed.” WorldBelieveDoeSaidArtistOrderBeliefForceWishSharePoetUnderstoodVisionariesProvincesTolerable Author:Kenneth Coutts-Smith
“Has anyone...any distinct notion of what poets of a stronger age understood by the word inspiration? ... There is an ecstasy such that the immese strain of it is sometimes relaxed by a flood of tears, along with which one's steps either rush or involuntarily lag, alternately. There is the feeling that one is completely out of hand, with the very distinct consciousness of an endless number of fine thrills and quiverings to the very toes... Everything happens quite involuntarily, as if in a tempestuous outburst of freedom, of absoluteness, of power and divinity.” IfsSometimesFeelingsHandsInspirationHappensAgeNumbersConsciousnessStepsTearsPoetFineUnderstoodStrongerNotionThings HappenEndlessDivinityEcstasyFloodToesStrainRelaxedLagOutburst Author:Friedrich Nietzsche
“I was at Yale and I said to the poet Elizabeth Alexander, "I'm interested in the ways in which black health seems precarious in the United States." She introduced me to the term "John Henryism." And then I went back and researched it and understood that, woah, this thing I am thinking about is actually a condition that's named.” ThinkingWaySaidStatesSeemsBlackTermUnitedUnited StatesConditionsPoetUnderstoodYalePrecarious Author:Claudia Rankine