--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Poems are language turned into art; sound…" description: "\"Poems are language turned into art; sound and sense matter; they can be as long or longer than The Odyssey or as short or shorter than a haiku. Not ver..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4ff/campbell-mcgrath-32135_art_poems-are-language-turned-into-art-sound_153833.jpg" --- # Poems are language turned into art; sound and sense… ![“Poems are language turned into art; sound and sense matter; they can be as long or longer than The Odyssey or as short or shorter than a haiku. Not very helpful.” quote by Campbell McGrath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4ff/campbell-mcgrath-32135_art_poems-are-language-turned-into-art-sound_153833.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4ff/campbell-mcgrath-32135_art_poems-are-language-turned-into-art-sound_153833.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4ff/campbell-mcgrath-32135_art_poems-are-language-turned-into-art-sound_153833.jpg) > “Poems are language turned into art; sound and sense matter; they can be as long or longer than The Odyssey or as short or shorter than a haiku. Not very helpful.” [Campbell McGrath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/campbell-mcgrath/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Poetry transforms language into art, where both sound and meaning matter, ranging from epic lengths to brief forms. **In simple terms:** Poetry is artistic language, from long to short. Key Takeaway Appreciate both sound and sense in poetry. Themes art language creativity Mood reflective analytical Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - reading poetry - writing workshops - literary analysis Key Concepts aesthetics form expression Questions to Reflect On - What makes a poem feel artistic? - How does length affect poetic impact? A Different Perspective Not all poems succeed in balancing sound and sense. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Haiku](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/haiku/) [Language](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/language/) [Odyssey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/odyssey/) [Poems](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poems/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) ## Related quotes > [I tell my students to think of poems as language plus, language with value added beyond its everyday use.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/monica-youn/i-tell-my-students-to-think-of-poems-as-language-plus-language-with/) [Monica Youn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/monica-youn/) > [“I wrote too many poems in a language I did not yet know how to speak But I know now it doesn't matter how…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrea-gibson/i-wrote-too-many-poems-in-a-language-i-did-not-yet-know-how-to-speak/) [Andrea Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrea-gibson/) > [Of course the other and more serious way in which it all happens is that one finds in poems and language some quality one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-fitzgerald/of-course-the-other-and-more-serious-way-in-which-it-all-happens-is/) [Robert Fitzgerald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-fitzgerald/) > [The language you use for your poems should be the language you use with your friends.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-bly/the-language-you-use-for-your-poems-should-be-the-language-you-use/) [Robert Bly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-bly/) > [“Some poems survive it to become poems in another language,” he argued, “but others refuse to live in any language but their own, in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/some-poems-survive-it-to-become-poems-in-another-language-he-argued/) [Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) > [What do you think you're doing?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-aaronovitch/what-do-you-think-you-re-doing/) [Ben Aaronovitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-aaronovitch/) > [“Where we sail and anchor our heart fill up the multitude odyssey paving to the coming home of our soul.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angelica-hopes/where-we-sail-and-anchor-our-heart-fill-up-the-multitude-odyssey/) [Angelica Hopes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angelica-hopes/) > [The Iliad is only great because all life is a battle, The Odyssey because all life is a journey, The Book of Job because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-iliad-is-only-great-because-all-life-is-a-battle-the-odyssey/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I read the Odyssey because it was the story of a man who returned home after being absent for more than twenty years and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guillermo-cabrera-infante/i-read-the-odyssey-because-it-was-the-story-of-a-man-who-returned/) [Guillermo Cabrera Infante](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guillermo-cabrera-infante/) > [If you take 2001: A Space Odyssey as an example of somebody who creates a new language in film by what he was able…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-modine/if-you-take-2001-a-space-odyssey-as-an-example-of-somebody-who/) [Matthew Modine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-modine/) > [“And so my Odyssey begins...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vardan-partamyan/and-so-my-odyssey-begins/) Vardan Partamyan > [Every great literature has always been allegorical - allegorical of some view of the whole universe. 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The entire book is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lawrence-osborne/the-odyssey-is-a-great-poem-to-refugee-dom-odysseus-is-not-entirely-a/) [Lawrence Osborne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lawrence-osborne/) > [“The Odyssey was written by Homer, or another Greek of the same name.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/the-odyssey-was-written-by-homer-or-another-greek-of-the-same-name/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [The book of 'The Hobbit' was given to me to read by a friend of my mother when I was about 12 years old:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/conan-stevens/the-book-of-the-hobbit-was-given-to-me-to-read-by-a-friend-of-my/) [Conan Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/conan-stevens/) ## More by Campbell McGrath > [“Dawn 5am: the frogs ask what is it, what is it? It is what it is.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/campbell-mcgrath/dawn-5am-the-frogs-ask-what-is-it-what-is-it-it-is-what-it-is/) [Campbell McGrath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/campbell-mcgrath/) > [The shape that poems make in the mind is an echo of something powerful in the cosmos. I do believe that, and that is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/campbell-mcgrath/the-shape-that-poems-make-in-the-mind-is-an-echo-of-something/) [Campbell McGrath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/campbell-mcgrath/) > [All of the arts are kin - music and sculpture and dance, those are wordless art forms. But poetry is defined by language. Of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/campbell-mcgrath/all-of-the-arts-are-kin-music-and-sculpture-and-dance-those-are/) [Campbell McGrath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/campbell-mcgrath/) > [I like each of my books to be different. 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