--- title: "1 Change Attitudes Quotes By Stephen Burt" description: "1 Change Attitudes quotes by Stephen Burt. Plus more from Stephen Burt and more Change Attitudes sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cbf/stephen-burt-32828_art_poetry-can-explain-individuals-to-oursel_1650790.jpg" --- > [Poetry can explain individuals to ourselves, and change our attitudes, and help us see the complexity of the world, but the kind of poetry I follow isn't going to change public opinion directly. Other art forms can - if you're…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-burt/poetry-can-explain-individuals-to-ourselves-and-change-our-attitudes/) [Stephen Burt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-burt/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cbf/stephen-burt-32828_art_poetry-can-explain-individuals-to-oursel_1650790.jpg) ## More by Stephen Burt > [In the arts, in places where you're not going to save lives or save species, I think there's no reason to play ball. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-burt/in-the-arts-in-places-where-you-re-not-going-to-save-lives-or-save/) [Stephen Burt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-burt/) > [“TO A POOR OLD WOMAN" munching a plum on the street a paper bag of them in her hand They taste good to her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-burt/to-a-poor-old-woman-munching-a-plum-on-the-street-a-paper-bag-of-them/) [Stephen Burt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-burt/) > [One chance, One life. Make it or screw it up, it's your choice. Don't wait to long or your time will be up.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-burt/one-chance-one-life-make-it-or-screw-it-up-it-s-your-choice-don-t/) [Stephen Burt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-burt/) > [Powell belongs, in fact to the first generation of American poets who may have grown up without even a vestigial connection to the accentual-syllabic,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-burt/powell-belongs-in-fact-to-the-first-generation-of-american-poets-who/) [Stephen Burt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-burt/) > [In pursuing certain virtues - colorful local effects, personae and personality, juxtaposition, close calls with nonsense, uncertainty, critiques of ordinary language - the current…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-burt/in-pursuing-certain-virtues-colorful-local-effects-personae-and/) [Stephen Burt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-burt/) > [“Color Theory" How yellow the sky how little the understanding Intangible the things we know for sure Dusty silica clouds over Europe the very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-burt/color-theory-how-yellow-the-sky-how-little-the-understanding/) [Stephen Burt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-burt/) > [Poetry can explain individuals to ourselves, and change our attitudes, and help us see the complexity of the world, but the kind of poetry…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-burt/poetry-can-explain-individuals-to-ourselves-and-change-our-attitudes/) [Stephen Burt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-burt/) > [To do a poem justice, explain what makes it unique; to get a poem noticed, explain what makes it typical.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-burt/to-do-a-poem-justice-explain-what-makes-it-unique-to-get-a-poem/) [Stephen Burt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-burt/) > [Good poems do a lot of things at once. Often, by doing so, they encourage us to acknowledge mixed and incompatible feelings. Good poems,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-burt/good-poems-do-a-lot-of-things-at-once-often-by-doing-so-they/) [Stephen Burt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-burt/) > [Gunn would be an important figure-rewarding, delightful, accomplished, enduring-in the history of English-language poetry even were his life not as fascinating as it now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-burt/gunn-would-be-an-important-figure-rewarding-delightful-accomplished/) [Stephen Burt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-burt/) > [If we recover something like a functioning, well-informed democratic polity - if it hasn't been wrecked for good by the people who are getting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-burt/if-we-recover-something-like-a-functioning-well-informed-democratic/) [Stephen Burt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-burt/) > [Some poets marry a language; some have affairs with it; some treat it as a parent, some as a child, some as an equal,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-burt/some-poets-marry-a-language-some-have-affairs-with-it-some-treat-it/) [Stephen Burt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-burt/) > [“Stephen Burt is Professor of English at Harvard. "Butterfly with Parachute" Stephen Burt A real one wouldn’t need one, but the one Nathan draws…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-burt/stephen-burt-is-professor-of-english-at-harvard-butterfly-with/) [Stephen Burt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-burt/) > [Durable, memorable poetry is usually alert to complexity. A really good poem gives you a reason to read it 20 times, because the language…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-burt/durable-memorable-poetry-is-usually-alert-to-complexity-a-really-good/) [Stephen Burt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-burt/) > ["Poetry" refers to the quite challenging and quite resistant sets of words put together to be admired and interpreted by people who are already…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-burt/poetry-refers-to-the-quite-challenging-and-quite-resistant-sets-of/) [Stephen Burt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-burt/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/change-attitudes/stephen-burt/#itemlist", "name": "1 Change Attitudes Quotes By Stephen Burt", "numberOfItems": 1, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Poetry can explain individuals to ourselves, and change our attitudes, and help us see the complexity of the world, but the kind of poetry I follow isn't going to change public opinion directly. 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