"The Divine Comedy" (1977)
Context: Truly fine poetry must be read aloud. A good poem does not allow itself to be read in a low voice or silently. If we can read it silently, it is not a valid poem: a poem demands pronunciation. Poetry always remembers that it was an oral art before it was a written art. It remembers that it was first song.
“Poetry may be written on paper, but it’s an oral art. A good poem satisfies the ear. It creates a story or picture that grabs you.”
Quoted in 'Venerable Poets :Words to Pop Music beat 'by Cynthia Wolfe Boyton.
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John Hollander 31
American poet 1929–2013Related quotes
Source: Real Presences (1989), III: Presences, Ch. 4 (pp. 190-191).
“I never think of poetry or the poetry scene, only separate poems written by individuals.”
Interview in The Review, published by Ian Hamilton (1972)
[Pictures Called Products Of Art., The Record, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Harvey_Dwight_Dash_(1924-2002)_in_The_Record_of_Hackensack,_New_Jersey_on_5_November_1959.png, November 5, 1959, Harvey Dwight Dash]
Quote
“Poetry carries its history within it, and it is oral in its origins, its transmission was oral.”
An Introduction to English Poetry, Viking Penguin, London 2002 ISBN 0141004398
On reworking the Ramayana in “An Interview With Daljit Nagra” https://www.thebubble.org.uk/culture/literature/an-interview-with-daljit-nagra/ in The Bubble (2014 Sept 17)
"Answers to Questions," from Mid-Century American Poets, edited by John Ciardi, 1950 [p. 171]
Kipling, Auden & Co: Essays and Reviews 1935-1964 (1980)