“A perfect poem is impossible. Once it had been written, the world would end.”
The Paris Review, "Writers at Work: 4th series," interview with Peter Buckman and William Fifield (1969).
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Robert Graves 117
English poet and novelist 1895–1985Related quotes

Source: The High Window (1942), chapter 36
Context: When I left, Merle was wearing a bungalow apron and rolling pie-crust. She came to the door wiping her hands on the apron and kissed me on the mouth and began to cry and ran back into the house, leaving the doorway empty until her mother came into the space with a broad homely smile on her face to watch me drive away.
I had a funny feeling as I saw the house disappear, as though I had written a poem and it was very good and I had lost it and would never remember it again.

The Ancient Mariner
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part XV - Titles and Subjects
“A poem round and perfect as a star.”
Scene 2.
A Life Drama and other Poems (1853)