Windbags can be right. Aphorists can be wrong. It is a tough world. — James Fenton Aphorists Copy Share Image
Babies are not brought by storks and poets are not produced by workshops. — James Fenton Babies Copy Share Image
The writing of a poem is like a child throwing stones into a mineshaft. You compose first, then you listen for the… — James Fenton Children Copy Share Image
In rap, as in most popular lyrics, a very low standard is set for rhyme; but this was not always the case… — James Fenton Cases Copy Share Image
I don't see that a single line can constitute a stanza, although it can constitute a whole poem. — James Fenton Lines Copy Share Image
At somewhere around 10 syllables, the English poetic line is at its most relaxed and manageable. — James Fenton Lines Copy Share Image
In my opinion, it is easier to avoid iambic rhythms, when writing in syllabics, if you create a line or pattern of… — James Fenton Avoid Copy Share Image
The Mormon mission to Africa, as to other dark-skinned parts of the world, was for a long time hobbled by the racism… — James Fenton Dark Copy Share Image
Oh let us not be condemned for what we are. It is enough to account for what we do. — James Fenton Account Copy Share Image
What happened to poetry in the twentieth century was that it began to be written for the page. — James Fenton Century Copy Share Image
Considering the wealth of poetic drama that has come down to us from the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods, it is surprising that… — James Fenton Considering Copy Share Image
It normally happens that if you put two words together, or two syllables together, one of them will attract more weight, more… — James Fenton Emphasis Copy Share Image
In song the same rule applies as in dramatic verse: the meaning must yield itself, or yield itself sufficiently to arouse the… — James Fenton Applies Copy Share Image
Lyric poetry is, of course, musical in origin. I do know that what happened to poetry in the twentieth century was that… — James Fenton Beautiful Copy Share Image
There is no objection to the proposal: in order to learn to be a poet, I shall try to write a sonnet.… — James Fenton Order Copy Share Image
Composers need words, but they do not necessarily need poetry. The Russian composer, Aleksandr Mossolov, who chose texts from newspaper small ads,… — James Fenton Ads Copy Share Image
The basic rhymes in English are masculine, which is to say that the last syllable of the line is stressed: 'lane' rhymes… — James Fenton Doe Copy Share Image
Free verse seemed democratic because it offered freedom of access to writers. And those who disdained free verse would always be open… — James Fenton Access Copy Share Image
Some of my educated Filipino friends were aspiring poets, but their aspirations were all in the direction of the United States. They… — James Fenton Aspiration Copy Share Image
If you're writing a song, you have to write something that can be understood serially. When you're reading a poem that's written… — James Fenton Back Copy Share Image
Among those today who believe that modern poetry must do without rhyme or metre, there is an assumption that the alternative to… — James Fenton Alternatives Copy Share Image
A glance at the history of European poetry is enough to inform us that rhyme itself is not indispensable. Latin poetry in… — James Fenton Age Copy Share Image
This is what rhyme does. In a couplet, the first rhyme is like a question to which the second rhyme is an… — James Fenton Air Copy Share Image
Writing for the page is only one form of writing for the eye. Wherever solemn inscriptions are put up in public places,… — James Fenton Demand Copy Share Image
An aria in an opera - Handel's 'Ombra mai fu,' for example - gets along with an incredibly small number of words… — James Fenton Amount Copy Share Image
What I want, when I write a poem, is no more than this: that it be preserved in some published form so… — James Fenton Able Copy Share Image
“The great cause of the new Republican intake is the reduction of the deficit but to anyone seeking evidence of sincere attempts… — James Fenton 2010 Copy Share Image
“The Mistake With the mistake your life goes in reverse. Now you can see exactly what you did Wrong yesterday and wrong… — James Fenton Acceptance Copy Share Image
Nobody really knows whether they are a poet. I knew I was interested from the age of 15. — James Fenton Age Copy Share Image
“Stay near to me and I’ll Stay near to you – As near as you are dear to me will do.” — James Fenton Love Copy Share Image
Poetry carries its history within it, and it is oral in origin. Its transmission was oral. — James Fenton History Copy Share Image
I prefer writing in the mornings, so to that extent I have a routine. I do reading and other things in the… — James Fenton Afternoon Copy Share Image
The composer does not want the self-sufficiency of a richly complex text: he or she wants to feel that the text is… — James Fenton Complexes Copy Share Image
One problem we face comes from the lack of any agreed sense of how we should be working to train ourselves to… — James Fenton Faces Copy Share Image
The lullaby is the spell whereby the mother attempts to transform herself back from an ogre to a saint. — James Fenton Being a mom Copy Share Image
Imitation, if it is not forgery, is a fine thing. It stems from a generous impulse, and a realistic sense of what… — James Fenton Done Copy Share Image
'Love' is so short of perfect rhymes that convention allows half-rhymes like 'move.' The alternative is a plague of doves, or a… — James Fenton Addresses Copy Share Image
Sometimes I have thought that a song should look disappointing on the page - a little thin, perhaps, a little repetitive, or… — James Fenton Disappointing Copy Share Image
