quotations about poetry
Hark, his hands the lyre explore!
Bright-eyed Fancy, hov'ring o'er,
Scatters from her pictur'd urn
Thoughts that breathe, and words that burn.
THOMAS GRAY
The Poems
How do poems grow? They grow out of your life.
ROBERT PENN WARREN
The New York Times, May 12, 1985
The difference between genuine poetry and the poetry of Dryden, Pope, and all their school, is briefly this: their poetry is conceived and composed in their wits, genuine poetry is conceived and composed in the soul.
MATTHEW ARNOLD
Essays in Criticism, Second Series