--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There is an idealism associated with…" description: "\"There is an idealism associated with poetry I would not dispel but question. It doesn't change anything except within. It shifts your insides around. P..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4d7/c-d-wright-28793_audience_there-is-an-idealism-associated-with-poe_251642.png" --- # There is an idealism associated with poetry I would not… ![“There is an idealism associated with poetry I would not dispel but question. It doesn't change anything except within. It shifts your insides around. Poetry is not going to reach the numbers of people by which we commonly consider a large audience. It just isn't a stadium-filler. It could still…” quote by C.D. Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4d7/c-d-wright-28793_audience_there-is-an-idealism-associated-with-poe_251642.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4d7/c-d-wright-28793_audience_there-is-an-idealism-associated-with-poe_251642.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4d7/c-d-wright-28793_audience_there-is-an-idealism-associated-with-poe_251642.png) > “There is an idealism associated with poetry I would not dispel but question. It doesn't change anything except within. It shifts your insides around. Poetry is not going to reach the numbers of people by which we commonly consider a large audience. It just isn't a stadium-filler. It could still galvanize people during a crisis, but let's just say there are two points at which poetry is indispensable to people - at the point of love and the point of death. I'll second that emotion.” [C.D. Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-d-wright/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Poetry may not reach mass audiences, but it profoundly affects inner experience, especially in love and death. **In simple terms:** Poetry changes us internally, not publicly. Key Takeaway Value poetry for personal transformation. Themes love death inner change artistic impact Mood reflective intimate Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - grief counseling - relationship counseling - personal reflection - creative writing workshops Key Concepts existentialism emotional resonance catharsis Questions to Reflect On - How does poetry shape your inner life? - When have you felt poetry alter your perception of love or loss? A Different Perspective Poetry's influence is limited to those who engage with it deeply. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Audience](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/audience/) [Crisis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/crisis/) [Emotion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/emotion/) [Idealism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/idealism/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) ## Related quotes > [I know that poetry is indispensable, but to what I could not say.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/i-know-that-poetry-is-indispensable-but-to-what-i-could-not-say/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [It seems more than likely that the translating of poetry is going to rub off on the translator if he or she is a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ron-padgett/it-seems-more-than-likely-that-the-translating-of-poetry-is-going-to/) [Ron Padgett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ron-padgett/) > [Poetry is indispensable --if I only knew what for.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/poetry-is-indispensable-if-i-only-knew-what-for/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [A stress on the system and I think a painful thing for many young poets who are looking to find a life in poetry…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hirsch/a-stress-on-the-system-and-i-think-a-painful-thing-for-many-young/) [Edward Hirsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hirsch/) > [Concrete poets continue to turn out beautiful things, but to me they're more visual than oral, and they almost really belong on the wall…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-laughlin/concrete-poets-continue-to-turn-out-beautiful-things-but-to-me-they/) [James Laughlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-laughlin/) > [I took my vow to poetry; this is where I'm going to be. These are my people; this is my tribe. This is where…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-waldman/i-took-my-vow-to-poetry-this-is-where-i-m-going-to-be-these-are-my/) [Anne Waldman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-waldman/) > [I feel that poetry is going on all the time inside, an underground stream.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-ashbery/i-feel-that-poetry-is-going-on-all-the-time-inside-an-underground/) [John Ashbery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-ashbery/) > [Gradually I find that my whole soul is merging itself into this business of writing, and especially of writing poetry. I am going to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sidney-lanier/gradually-i-find-that-my-whole-soul-is-merging-itself-into-this/) [Sidney Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sidney-lanier/) > [I like to mix it up, because the kind of comments you can get from a fiction writer about your poetry are going to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sandra-cisneros/i-like-to-mix-it-up-because-the-kind-of-comments-you-can-get-from-a/) [Sandra Cisneros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sandra-cisneros/) > [Poetry is a necessity of life,](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-d-wright/poetry-is-a-necessity-of-life/) [C.D. Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-d-wright/) > [Poetry is the language of intensity. Because we are going to die, an expression of intensity is justified.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-d-wright/poetry-is-the-language-of-intensity-because-we-are-going-to-die-an/) [C.D. Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-d-wright/) > [Love your country, not for her power or wealth, but for her selflessness and her idealism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ronald-reagan/love-your-country-not-for-her-power-or-wealth-but-for-her/) [Ronald Reagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ronald-reagan/) > [In a democracy, the one thing that cannot be done is to destroy its trust, its hope, its idealism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teresa-heinz/in-a-democracy-the-one-thing-that-cannot-be-done-is-to-destroy-its/) [Teresa Heinz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/teresa-heinz/) > [What the nostalgic past and the imaginary future seem to share in common is a form of idealism, perhaps a dream of wholeness. Our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-d-ambrosio/what-the-nostalgic-past-and-the-imaginary-future-seem-to-share-in/) [Charles D'Ambrosio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-d-ambrosio/) > [“I'm an idealist who has outgrown my idealism I have nothing to do the rest of my life but do it and the rest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-kerouac/i-m-an-idealist-who-has-outgrown-my-idealism-i-have-nothing-to-do-the/) [Jack Kerouac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-kerouac/) ## More by C.D. Wright > [Poetry is the language of intensity. Because we are going to die, an expression of intensity is justified.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-d-wright/poetry-is-the-language-of-intensity-because-we-are-going-to-die-an/) [C.D. Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-d-wright/) > [It is a function of poetry to locate those zones inside us that would be free, and declare them so.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-d-wright/it-is-a-function-of-poetry-to-locate-those-zones-inside-us-that-would/) [C.D. Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-d-wright/) > [Almost none of the poetries I admire stick to their labels, native or adopted ones. Rather, they are vagrant in their identifications. Tramp poets,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-d-wright/almost-none-of-the-poetries-i-admire-stick-to-their-labels-native-or/) [C.D. Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-d-wright/) > [“I believe the word used wrongly distorts the world.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-d-wright/i-believe-the-word-used-wrongly-distorts-the-world/) [C.D. Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-d-wright/) > [One opinion I share with the Dadaists is that art-making presupposes a revolutionary state of mind. Assimilating the practice into commodity or symbol of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-d-wright/one-opinion-i-share-with-the-dadaists-is-that-art-making-presupposes/) [C.D. Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-d-wright/) > [Poetry is a necessity of life,](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-d-wright/poetry-is-a-necessity-of-life/) [C.D. Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-d-wright/) > [Poetry requires deliberate movement in its direction, a filament of faith in its persistence, receptivity to its fundamental worthwhileness. Within its unanesthetized heart there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-d-wright/poetry-requires-deliberate-movement-in-its-direction-a-filament-of/) [C.D. Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-d-wright/) > [“If the incision of our words amounts to nothing but a feeling, a slow motion, it will still cut a better swath than the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-d-wright/if-the-incision-of-our-words-amounts-to-nothing-but-a-feeling-a-slow/) [C.D. Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-d-wright/) > [Poetry seems especially like nothing else so much as itself. Poetry is not like, it is the very lining of the inner life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-d-wright/poetry-seems-especially-like-nothing-else-so-much-as-itself-poetry-is/) [C.D. Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-d-wright/) > [The artistic reward for refuting the received national tradition is liberation. The price is homelessness. Interior exile.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-d-wright/the-artistic-reward-for-refuting-the-received-national-tradition-is/) [C.D. Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-d-wright/) > [I have taught the long poem off and on for years. The more book-length poems I read and studied and taught the more interested…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-d-wright/i-have-taught-the-long-poem-off-and-on-for-years-the-more-book-length/) [C.D. Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-d-wright/) > [Everyone in their car needs love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-d-wright/everyone-in-their-car-needs-love/) [C.D. Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-d-wright/) > [I think a book-length poem stands about as good a chance as a collection of individual poems in reaching its field of ears. This…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-d-wright/i-think-a-book-length-poem-stands-about-as-good-a-chance-as-a/) [C.D. Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-d-wright/) > [“If religion, she also liked to say, is the opiate of the masses, fundamentalism is the amphetamine.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-d-wright/if-religion-she-also-liked-to-say-is-the-opiate-of-the-masses/) [C.D. Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-d-wright/) > [I am suggesting that the radical of poetry lies not in the resolution of doubts but in their proliferation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-d-wright/i-am-suggesting-that-the-radical-of-poetry-lies-not-in-the-resolution/) [C.D. Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-d-wright/) [Explore all 19 C.D. Wright quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-d-wright/) ## More Audience quotes > [If the audience likes your work, if they like you, they don't think whether you are married or have children or not. I made…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dimple-kapadia/if-the-audience-likes-your-work-if-they-like-you-they-don-t-think/) [Dimple Kapadia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dimple-kapadia/) > [It's those moments, those odd moments that you look for and sometimes by creating this kind of loose atmosphere you find those little moments…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barry-levinson/it-s-those-moments-those-odd-moments-that-you-look-for-and-sometimes/) [Barry Levinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barry-levinson/) > [I can skate beautifully. While performing on ice I always try to please the audience and to win as well. Being artistic is very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/evgeni-plushenko/i-can-skate-beautifully-while-performing-on-ice-i-always-try-to/) [Evgeni Plushenko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evgeni-plushenko/) > [One of the best moments of any Liars show is hearing the crowd squawk 'We're doomed! We're doomed!' on cue during 'We Fenced Other…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rob-sheffield/one-of-the-best-moments-of-any-liars-show-is-hearing-the-crowd-squawk/) [Rob Sheffield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rob-sheffield/) > [It's the adrenaline rush you only get from being in front of an audience. It's addictive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raphael-saadiq/it-s-the-adrenaline-rush-you-only-get-from-being-in-front-of-an/) [Raphael Saadiq](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raphael-saadiq/) > [If I had to speak in front of a Korean audience, I would be hard pressed to sound other than a little girl.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/an-na/if-i-had-to-speak-in-front-of-a-korean-audience-i-would-be-hard/) [An Na](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/an-na/) > [The liveness of theater, and the excitement of experiencing it alongside an audience, is something you can't get at home. That makes the theater…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-blaemire/the-liveness-of-theater-and-the-excitement-of-experiencing-it/) [Nick Blaemire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-blaemire/) > [One of the things that touches me most when I play for an audience is that although we may be unable to communicate in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-hough/one-of-the-things-that-touches-me-most-when-i-play-for-an-audience-is/) [Stephen Hough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-hough/) > [I have to feel the audience. I enjoy that feeling of community.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dave-gahan/i-have-to-feel-the-audience-i-enjoy-that-feeling-of-community/) [Dave Gahan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dave-gahan/) > [When you lived it for years and years and years and seen different characters just get pummeled and squashed because 'I said so,' it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arn-anderson/when-you-lived-it-for-years-and-years-and-years-and-seen-different/) [Arn Anderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arn-anderson/) > [“During the first few minutes of your presentation, your job is to assure the audience members that you are not going to waste their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dale-ludwig-and-greg-owen-boger/during-the-first-few-minutes-of-your-presentation-your-job-is-to/) [Dale Ludwig and Greg Owen-Boger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dale-ludwig-and-greg-owen-boger/) > [Donald Trump is a different ball of wax. 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My music director, who knew…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-tesh/when-i-was-playing-piano-it-was-like-i-m-going-to-write-a-song-using/) [John Tesh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-tesh/) [Browse all 9,118 Audience quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/audience/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "There is an idealism associated with poetry I would not dispel but question. It doesn't change anything except within. It shifts your insides around. Poetry is not going to reach the numbers of people by which we commonly consider a large audience. It just isn't a stadium-filler. It could still galvanize people during a crisis, but let's just say there are two points at which poetry is indispensable to people - at the point of love and the point of death. I'll second that emotion.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "C.D. 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