“You must believe: a poem is a holy thing — a good poem, that is.”
Poetry and Craft (1965)
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Theodore Roethke86
American poet 1908–1963Related quotes
Ryōkan (1758–1831) Japanese Buddhist monk
Variant translation:<br>Who says my poems are poems?<br>My poems are not poems.<br>After you know my poems are not poems,<br>Then we can begin to discuss poetry! <br class="br"> "Zen Poetics of Ryokan" in Simply Haiku: A Quarterly Journal of Japanese Short Form Poetry (Summer 2006) http://www.hermitary.com/articles/ryokan_poetics.html <br class="br">Dewdrops on a Lotus Leaf : Zen Poems of Ryokan (1993)
Randall Jarrell (1914–1965) poet, critic, novelist, essayist
"Answers to Questions," from Mid-Century American Poets, edited by John Ciardi, 1950 [p. 171]
Kipling, Auden & Co: Essays and Reviews 1935-1964 (1980)
“It is a pretty poem, Mr. Pope; but you must not call it Homer.”
Richard Bentley (1662–1742) English classical scholar and Master of Trinity College, Cambridge
Of Pope's translation of The Iliad — as quoted in The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. in Eleven Volumes by John Hawkins, Vol. IV (1787), The Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets, "Life of Pope", footnote on p. 126.
“There is no such thing as a silent poem.”
Gillian Clarke (1937) Welsh poet
BBC Radio 4 broadcast, July 2, 2000
“To write good poems is the secret of brevity.”
Dejan Stojanovic (1959) poet, writer, and businessman
Simplicity http://www.poetrysoup.com/famous/poem/21390/Simplicity <br class="br">From the poems written in English
Herbert Read (1893–1968) English anarchist, poet, and critic of literature and art
What is a Poem - Endword - Selected Poems (1926)