“It is worthwhile adding that the power of the poem to teach not only sensibilities and the subtle movements of the spirit but knowledge, real lasting felt knowledge, is going mostly unnoticed among our scholars. The body of knowledge locked into and releasable from poetry can replace practically any university in the Republic. First things first, then: the primal importance of a poem is what it can add to the individual mind.Poetry is the voice of a poet at its birth, and the voice of a people in its ultimate fulfillment as a successful and useful work of art.” PeopleMindFirstsArtRealBodySpiritIndividualFeltVoiceTeachSuccessfulMovementPoetBirthUltimateImportanceAddUniversityFulfillmentSubtlePoetry IsLastingWorks Of ArtRepublicWorthwhileScholarLockedSensibilityPrimalUnnoticedFirst Things First Author:Guy Davenport
“Good poetry is like effective prayer, it feeds the human spirit, it nourishes, it puts us in touch with forces far greater than ourselves” HumansSpiritForcePrayerGreaterPoetry IsHuman SpiritGood Poetry Author:Lorna Goodison
“Genius is mainly an affair of energy, and poetry is mainly an affair of genius; therefore a nation whose spirit is characterized by energy may well be imminent in poetry - and we have Shakespeare.” WellsMaySpiritEnergyNationsGeniusAffairPoetry Is Author:Matthew Arnold
“Poetry is the universal art of the spirit which has become free in itself and which is not tied down for its realization to external sensuous material; instead, it launches out exclusively in the inner space and the inner time of ideas and feelings.” ArtIdeasFeelingsSpiritSpaceMaterialsUniversalRealizationPoetry IsTiedSensuous Book:Aesthetics: Lectures on Fine Art Source: Aesthetics: Lectures on Fine Art
“For poetry is, I believe, always an act of the spirit. The poem teaches us something while we make it. The poem makes you as you make the poem, and your making of the poem requires all your capacities of thought, feeling, analysis, and synthesis.” BelieveFeelingsSpiritI BelieveTeachCapacityAnalysisPoetry IsSynthesis Author:May Sarton
“... 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)