Herbert Read: Poem

“The poem, even when it has some predetermined pattern, must be wrought to some effect or finish that justifies the exclamation: This is a poem!”

“A short poem is often called a lyric, which originally meant a poem short enough to be set to music and sung for a moment's pleasure.”

“The rhythm of a poem ceases the moment the feeling loses its intensity.”

“The distinction between a major and minor poet is the ability to write a long poem successfully.”

“From the poet's viewpoint a lyric is a poem which embodies a single or simple emotional attitude that expresses directly an uninterrupted mood or inspiration.”

“A poem therefore is to be defined as a structure of words whose sound constitutes a rhythmical unity, complete in itself, irrefragable, unanalyzable, completing its symbolic references within the ambit of its sound effects.”

“A poem is not a statement, but a manifestation, a manifestation of being”