Robert Graves on poetry

Love is a universal migraine.
A bright stain on the vision
Blotting out reason.

A perfect poem is impossible. Once it had been written, the world would end.

The remarkable thing about Shakespeare is that he is really very good — in spite of all the people who say he is very good.

Poetry is what gets lost in translation.

Robert Frost1874–1963

Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal.

T. S. Eliot1888–1965“Philip Massinger”, a biographical essay, in The Sacred Wood (1920)

Poetry too is a little incarnation, giving body to what had been before invisible and inaudible.

C. S. Lewis1898–1963Reflections on the Psalms