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Quotes about poetry

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Not marble, nor the gilded monuments
Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme;
William Shakespeare1564–1616Sonnet 55 (1609)In context
I had rather be a kitten, and cry “mew”
Than one of these same metre ballad-mongers
William Shakespeare1564–1616Henry IV, Part 1 (c. 1597), Act III, Scene I, spoken by HotspurIn context
- Clever Jabs
It is more dangerous to be a great prophet or poet than to promote twenty companies for swindling simple folk out of their savings.
George Bernard Shaw1856–1950Misalliance (1910), Preface
- Business
Poetry is a mirror which makes beautiful that which is distorted.
Percy Bysshe Shelley1792–1822A Defence of Poetry (1821)
- Beauty
Poetry is the record of the best and happiest moments of the happiest and best minds.
Percy Bysshe Shelley1792–1822A Defence of Poetry (1821)
Most wretched men
Are cradled into poetry by wrong;
They learn in suffering what they teach in song.
Percy Bysshe Shelley1792–1822Julian and Maddalo (1819), l. 543
Poetry lifts the veil from the hidden beauty of the world, and makes familiar objects be as if they were not familiar.
Percy Bysshe Shelley1792–1822A Defence of Poetry (1821)
- Beauty
Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought.
Percy Bysshe Shelley1792–1822To a Skylark (1820)In context
- Music
My poems are hymns of praise to the glory of life.
Edith Sitwell1887–1964“Some Notes on My Poetry”. Collected Poems (1957)
The truth is, that those who have never entered upon scientific pursuits know not a tithe of the poetry by which they are surrounded.
Herbert Spencer1820–1903“What Knowledge Is of Most Worth?” (1859), in Education (1861), Ch. 1
- Science
Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose.
Gertrude Stein1874–1946Geography and Plays (1922), “Sacred Emily”
Bright is the ring of words
When the right man rings them.
Robert Louis Stevenson1850–1894Songs of Travel and Other Verses (1896), No. XIV
- Writing
I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you might nudge the world a little or make a poem that children will speak for you when you are dead.
Tom Stoppard1937–2025The Real Thing (1982), Act II, scene V
- Writing
Thou that singest wheat and woodland, tilth and vineyard, hive and horse and herd;
All the charm of all the Muses often flowering in a lonely word.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson1809–1892“To Virgil”, st. 3 (1882)
The best craftsmanship always leaves holes and gaps in the works of the poem so that something that is not in the poem can creep, crawl, flash, or thunder in.
Dylan Thomas1914–1953Poetic Manifesto (1951)