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Quotes about poetry

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The joy and function of poetry is, and was, the celebration of man, which is also the celebration of God.
Dylan Thomas1914–1953Poetic Manifesto (1951)
- God
My life has been the poem I would have writ,
But I could not both live and utter it.
Henry David Thoreau1817–1862A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers (1849), Friday
- Life & Death
You might as well think to go in pursuit of the rainbow, and embrace it on the next hill, as to embrace the whole of poetry even in thought.
Henry David Thoreau1817–1862Journal (26 January 1840)
Poetry — No definition of poetry is adequate unless it be poetry itself.
Henry David Thoreau1817–1862Journal (26 January 1840)
The poet is in command of his fantasy, while it is exactly the mark of the neurotic that he is possessed by his fantasy.
Lionel Trilling1905–1975The Liberal Imagination (1950), Freud and Literature
Arms, and the man I sing, who, forc’d by fate,
And haughty Juno’s unrelenting hate,
Expell’d and exil’d, left the Trojan shore.
Virgil70–19 BCThe Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book IIn context
- War & Peace
Wonder is not a disease. Wonder, and its expression in poetry and the arts, are among the most important things which seem to distinguish men from other animals, and intelligent and sensitive people from morons.
Alan Watts1915–1973Inside Information p. 7
- Art
I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.
Walt Whitman1819–1892Song of Myself (1855), Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919), Song of Myself, 52In context
Poetry (like a grand personality) is a growth of many generations — many rare combinations.
To have great poets, there must be great audiences too.
Walt Whitman1819–1892Complete Prose Works (1892), III. Notes Left Over 3. Ventures, on an Old Theme, p.324
That you are here⁠—that life exists and identity,
That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.
Walt Whitman1819–1892O Me! O Life! (1867)In context
- Life & Death
- Motivation & Goals
“Poets are not so scrupulous as you are. They know how useful passion is for publication. Nowadays a broken heart will run to many editions.”
Oscar Wilde1854–1900The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), Chapter IIn context
People nowadays think that scientists exist to instruct them, poets, musicians, etc. to give them pleasure. The idea that these have something to teach them — that does not occur to them.
Ludwig Wittgenstein1889–1951Culture and Value (1980), p. 36e
- Art
- Music
The light that never was, on sea or land,
The consecration, and the poet’s dream.
William Wordsworth1770–1850Elegiac Stanzas. Suggested by a Picture of Peele Castle in a Storm, st. 4 (wr. 1805; pub. 1807)
Milton! thou should’st be living at this hour:
England hath need of thee
William Wordsworth1770–1850London, 1802 (1807)In context
- Patriotism
Every great architect is — necessarily — a great poet. He must be a great original interpreter of his time, his day, his age.
Frank Lloyd Wright1867–1959The Future of Architecture (1953)
- Art