Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Poetry Quotes

There's been a thing going around where tagged poet bloggers share at least ten quotes about poetry. Nick Bruno did far more than his share -- here, here, and here. I haven't been tagged, which is probably just as well, at this point. Favourites from his lists include

“Poetry is thoughts that breathe, and words that burn.”
--Thomas Gray

Poetry; Imaginary gardens with real toads in them.
--Marianne Moore

Always be a poet, even in prose.
--Charles Baudelaire

If a poet is anybody, he is somebody to whom things made matter very little - somebody who is obsessed by Making.
--e. e. cummings

To be a poet is a condition, not a profession.
--Robert Frost

A poet is a man who manages, in a lifetime of standing out in thunderstorms, to be struck by lightning five or six times.
--Randall Jarrell
(How about once or twice?)

Poetry isn't written from the idea down. It's written from the phrase, line and stanza up, which is different from what your teacher taught you to do in school.
--Margaret Atwood

A poet is a man who puts up a ladder to a star and climbs it while playing a violin.
--Edmond de Goncourt

The courage of the poet is to keep ajar the door that leads into madness.
--Christopher Morley

Interesting that he didn't include that too oft quoted thing from Emily D. about poetry taking the top of your head off. Maybe that's why she never went outside: all that exposed brain was pretty unsightly.

10 comments:

Emily said...

Hey Brian (you don't know me at all; I subscribe to your feed; nice writing, man)...
When you post things in white they show up as white on white on the blog feed. Not a big deal, because I can hop over to your site, but I thought you should know there are some of us who like your blog enough to have subscribed to it...
Thanks.

Anonymous said...

"Poetry is things that poets write."--Robert Frost

"Poetry is news that stays news."--Ezra Pound

"A good poem is like a good hot beer shit. You think, Uh, I've done it. And there's the smell of the turds, the fumes and everything. And you flush it away, and the water flows in, and there's a sense of sadness. That's what a good poem is like, a good hot beer shit. Got it?"--Charles Bukowski

Brian Campbell said...

Hi Emily,
Thanks. I won't post in white again. (When I first transferred them over, they were dark blue on black, almost impossible to make out on this blog!)
How do you subscribe to a blog feed? I wonder if feed subscriptions show up on our site meters? Probably not.
Rob: I like those. *burp*

Emily said...

I don't think site meters usually track feed subscriptions. Mine don't.
You can subscribe to a feed through your email browser. Your feed address for this blog is http://briancampbell.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Emily said...

Here's a helpful site about feeds:
http://www.sixapart.com/about/feeds

Brian Campbell said...

Thanks, Emily!

Nick said...

With all due respect to Emily D. cognitive abilities vis a vis poetry should not necessarily be that narrow. Some poetry does not rip the top of your head off but can still have some resonance.

Brian Campbell said...

Yes, I'm sure Emily would concede that one. Of course a lot depends on the reader: the older one gets, the harder it is to be blown away.

Funny, Emily seems to be pretty up on site feeds... I wonder if it's the same one?

Hasib said...

Lovesome collection about poetry quotes. I have collected many quotes from you. I will come back soon. Thanks a lot for doing this job. http://www.quoteschart.com/poetry-quotes/

Brian Campbell said...

You're welcome, Hasib.