Every true poet is inevitably a Columbus.
Poetry Quotes
If it wasn’t for rap there would be no poetry in America. I think we went directly from Walt Whitman to Ice-T.
No poet sings because he must sing. At least no great poet does. A great poet sings because he chooses to sing.
A poet is someone who is astonished by everything.
Poets are born, not made.
The tongue of a poet is always the last to be corrupted.
The poet may be used as a barometer, but let us not forget that he is also part of the weather.
I think there is no such thing as a long poem. If it is long it isn’t a poem; it is something else. A book like John Brown’s Body, for instance, is not a poem – it is a series of poems tied together with cord. Poetry is intensity, and nothing is intense for long.
It is difficult to get the news from poems, yet men die miserably every day for lack of what is found there.
Perhaps there are no warmer lovers of the muse than those who are only permitted occasionally to gain her favors. The shrine is more reverently approached by the pilgrim from afar than the familiar worshiper and is often most beloved by one whose daily vocation is amid the bustle of the world.
