Source: "Philip Massinger", a biographical essay in The Sacred Wood (1920)
“A poet is not something you become; a poet is something you are.”
“All poets write bad poetry. Bad poets publish them, good poets burn them.”
“Just because a poet said something didn’t mean it was true, only that it sounded good.”
Source: White Oleander
“Admitting you are a nature poet, nowadays, may make you seem something of a fool!”
Baler Twine
“The poet is a god, or, the young poet is a god. The old poet is a tramp.”
Opus Posthumous (1955), Adagia
“Oh, what company good poets are!”
Longfellow (1882)
“I think a good deal may be said to extenuate the fault of bad Poets.”
Preface.
The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope (1717)
Context: I think a good deal may be said to extenuate the fault of bad Poets. What we call a Genius, is hard to be distinguish'd by a man himself, from a strong inclination: and if his genius be ever so great, he can not at first discover it any other way, than by giving way to that prevalent propensity which renders him the more liable to be mistaken.
