“A defining mark of poetry is that it defies definition.”
Introduction - ' The Bloodaxe Book of Poetry Quotations' ed. Dennis O'Driscoll 2006
Other Quotes
This appears not to be a Kerouac quote. It has not been found in any of Kerouac's published work.
Misattributed
“A defining mark of poetry is that it defies definition.”
Introduction - ' The Bloodaxe Book of Poetry Quotations' ed. Dennis O'Driscoll 2006
Other Quotes
Existencilism (2002)
Source: Wall and Piece
“He lives the poetry that he cannot write. The others write the poetry that they dare not realize”
“When a thing defies physical law, there's usually politics involved.”
All the Trouble in the World (1994)
Source: Dialogues of the Soul and Mortal Self in Time (1975), p. v
“Real poetry, is to lead a beautiful life. To live poetry is better than to write it.”
“Writing poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric.”
[N]ach Auschwitz ein Gedicht zu schreiben, ist barbarisch...
Full quote: Kulturkritik findet sich der letzten Stufe der Dialektik von Kultur und Barbarei gegenüber: nach Auschwitz ein Gedicht zu schreiben, ist barbarisch, und das frißt auch die Erkenntnis an, die ausspricht, warum es unmöglich ward, heute Gedichte zu schreiben.
Kulturkritik und Gesellschaft [Cultural Criticism and Society] (1951); this quote is more famously known in the forms "No poetry after Auschwitz" or "There can be no poetry after Auschwitz." Sometimes a more specific proscription is made, such as "No lyric poetry after Auschwitz." The influence of the underlying idea can be seen in such derivative statements as "No history after Auschwitz."
Hugging the Shore, foreword (1983)