The iambic pentameter owes its pre-eminence in English poetry to its genius for variation. Good blank verse does not sound like a… — James Fenton Blank Copy Share Image
Hearing that the same men who brought us 'South Park' were mounting a musical to be called 'The Book of Mormon,' we… — James Fenton Book Copy Share Image
In the writing of poetry we never know anything for sure. We will never know if we have 'trained' or 'practised' enough.… — James Fenton Able Copy Share Image
The term 'epitaph' itself means 'something to be spoken at a burial or engraved upon a tomb.' When an epitaph is a… — James Fenton Appears Copy Share Image
The voice is raised, and that is where poetry begins. And even today, in the prolonged aftermath of modernism, in places where… — James Fenton Aftermath 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
Rhyme is a mnemonic device, an aid to the memory. And some poems are themselves mnemonics, that is to say, the whole… — James Fenton Aid 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
Poetry carries its history within it, and it is oral in origin. Its transmission was oral. — James Fenton History 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
“God, A Poem 'I didn't exist at Creation, I didn't exist at the Flood, And I won't be around for Salvation To… — James Fenton God 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
The iambic line, with its characteristic forward movement from short to long, or light to heavy, or unstressed to stressed, is the… — James Fenton Characteristic 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
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
I've not been a prolific poet, and it always seemed to me to be a bad idea to feel that you had… — James Fenton Bad idea 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
A cabaret song has got to be written - for the middle voice, ideally - because you've got to hear the wit… — James Fenton Cabaret 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
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
A poem with grandly conceived and executed stanzas, such as one of Keats's odes, should be like an enfilade of rooms in… — James Fenton Anticipation 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
