“Poetry is not a mere shuffling of dead words or even a corralling of live ones.”
Source: Poetry and Craft (1965), p. 89
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Theodore Roethke 86
American poet 1908–1963Related quotes
“Even if you live to one hundred, you’ll still be dead forever.”
Death and the Eternal Forever (2014)
J. Agee, trans. (1989), p. 108
Das Geheimherz der Uhr [The Secret Heart of the Clock] (1987)
As quoted in web article "The Brian Aldiss Connection" http://www.zone-sf.com/brianaldiss.html, The Zone
“Flame out the living words of the dead
Written-in-red.”
"Written-In-Red" de Cleyre's last poem, dedicated "To Our Living Dead in Mexico's Struggle"; first lines.
Context: Written in red their protest stands,
For the Gods of the World to see;
On the dooming wall their bodiless hands
have blazoned "Upharsin," and flaring brands
Illumine the message: "Seize the lands!
Open the prisons and make men free!"
Flame out the living words of the dead
Written-in-red.
“The poetry of earth is never dead.”
" Sonnet. On the Grasshopper and the Cricket http://www.bartleby.com/126/28.html"
Poems (1817)
Letter to Larry Callen (14 July 1958), p. 133
1990s, The Proud Highway : The Fear and Loathing Letters Volume I (1997)
Context: I find that by putting things in writing I can understand them and see them a little more objectively. … For words are merely tools and if you use the right ones you can actually put even your life in order, if you don't lie to yourself and use the wrong words.
