Paradoxically, the simpler poetry is, the more difficult it becomes for a critic to discuss intelligently. Trained to explicate, the critic often loses the ability to evaluate literature outside the critical act. A work is good only in proportion to… — Dana Gioia Copy Share Image
Poetry is not a creed or dogma. It is a special way of speaking and listening. — Dana Gioia Copy Share Image
How many voices have escaped you until now, the venting furnace, the floorboards underfoot, the steady accusations of the clock numbering the minutes no… — Dana Gioia Copy Share Image
In an age of global standardization, regional voices also remind both writer and reader that no life is lived generically. If the purpose of… — Dana Gioia Copy Share Image
“The daylight needs no praise, and so we praise it always- greater than ourselves and all the airy words we summon.” — Dana Gioia Copy Share Image
“And memory insists on pining For places it never went, As if life would be happier Just by being different.” — Dana Gioia Copy Share Image
“Whatever the reasons, reading somehow awakens something in a kid's life that makes them take their own life more seriously and other people's lives… — Dana Gioia Copy Share Image
“Breton considered suicide the truest art, though life seemed hardly worth the trouble to discard.” — Dana Gioia Copy Share Image
The new year always brings us what we want Simply by bringing us along—to see A calendar with every day uncrossed, A field of… — Dana Gioia Copy Share Image
Being so deeply rooted in one place and culture allows a genuine writer to experiment wildly with the material without ever losing touch with… — Dana Gioia Copy Share Image
Poetry speaks most effectively and inclusively (whether in free or formal verse) when it recognizes its connection - without apology - to its musical… — Dana Gioia Copy Share Image
It seems to me that awakening to the full potential of what your life might be - beyond the possibilities of your own family,… — Dana Gioia Copy Share Image
“There is no human society, however isolated, that has not developed and employed poetry as a cultural practice.” — Dana Gioia Copy Share Image
The purpose of arts education is not to produce more artists, though that is a byproduct. The real purpose of arts education is to… — Dana Gioia Copy Share Image
