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Portrait of Alice Notley

Alice Notley

(1945–2025) Poet United States

22 quotes in 71 categories

Alice Notley was a poet from the United States, best known for The Descent of Alette.

Quick Facts About Alice Notley

Born: November 8, 1945
Died: May 19, 2025
Nationality: United States
Profession: Poet
Notable works: The Descent of Alette
Spouse: Douglas Oliver

About Alice Notley

Alice Elizabeth Notley was an American poet. Notley came to prominence as a member of the second generation of the New York School of poetry. Notley's early work laid both formal and theoretical groundwork for several generations of poets and topics like motherhood and domestic life. The Paris Review described her as having been "one of America's greatest living poets".

Biography source: Wikipedia

Awards & Honors

Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize Shelley Memorial Award

Quotes by Alice Notley

“There isn’t any way to be. I will meet you where you’ve gone. The cards are blank; the cards are empty there.…

Cards

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“We name us and then we are lost, tamed I choose words, more words, to cure the tameness, not the wildness”

Language

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“oh each poet’s a beautiful human girl who must die.”

Poetry

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“ ‘You are your” “Past, Present,” “& Future,’ he said” ” ‘You divide into” “those components” “in this room’ ” ” ‘But…

Life

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“What did you do in your songs? I don’t know, I’ll never know, you say. Someone else will write them about me,…

Love

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“I want this noise within me to die down.”

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In love there is no because.

Love

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“Who do you serve? Do you serve somebody? I serve the poem, no one.”

Poetry

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“And if you’re referring to your anguish, it’s just a thing. The shape of a trailor, a wheel, or a knife. Leave…

Anguish

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Writing poetry is what I am. I wouldn’t know what else to be.

Inspirational

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I'm not an expert in the deck at all. My interest lies somewhere near a sense that words are like tarot cards,…

All kinds

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“I can’t translate myself into language any more.”

Language

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“I didn't care much what happened to me, so chance didn't matter.”

Alice-notley

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“And maybe you can’t know me now. Maybe I’m just blood. Whatever that’s for.”

Alice-notley

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“I knew you were in charge of me but my mind broke on its own.”

Alice-notley

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“It’s all like me; and any song for this would just be bullshit. This is a thing, where they stopped trying, they…

Abandoned

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“Who defined me? My culture, a culture of mercy, a living codex. I am a unique culture of one, from everywhere. I…

Codex

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“I'll never know how to live, will you?”

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“Feeling awful is physiological you say. God I hate you, I say. Yes you can find the neurons for feeling awful. Do…

Alice-notley

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It's necessary to maintain a state of disobedience against...everything.

Disobedience

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“Gee whiz, it's all fucking heart- breaking”

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I do utterly despise dailiness as it stands. I can't abide what the world has become, the frozen-ness of our product this…

Ass

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