--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Poetry is an art practiced with the…" description: "\"Poetry is an art practiced with the terribly plastic material of human language.\" — Carl Sandburg" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ed1/carl-sandburg-952_art_poetry-is-an-art-practiced-with-the-terr_1455097.png" --- # Poetry is an art practiced with the terribly plastic… ![“Poetry is an art practiced with the terribly plastic material of human language.” quote by Carl Sandburg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ed1/carl-sandburg-952_art_poetry-is-an-art-practiced-with-the-terr_1455097.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ed1/carl-sandburg-952_art_poetry-is-an-art-practiced-with-the-terr_1455097.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ed1/carl-sandburg-952_art_poetry-is-an-art-practiced-with-the-terr_1455097.png) > “Poetry is an art practiced with the terribly plastic material of human language.” [Carl Sandburg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sandburg/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. He describes poetry as using the flexible, often clumsy medium of human language to create art, emphasizing the craft of shaping words. **In simple terms:** Poetry shapes the messy material of language into art. Key Takeaway Craft language into art. Themes creativity language art expression craftsmanship Mood reflective inspirational Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - writing workshops - education - literary criticism - personal expression Key Concepts literary theory aesthetics communication Questions to Reflect On - How can you turn ordinary words into something beautiful? - What constraints inspire creativity in poetry? A Different Perspective Language limits can restrict poetic depth. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Human language](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-language/) [Humans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humans/) [Language](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/language/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) ## Related quotes > [Poetry is the art of saying what you mean but disguising it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-wakoski/poetry-is-the-art-of-saying-what-you-mean-but-disguising-it/) [Diane Wakoski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-wakoski/) > [Poetry is the art of understanding what it is to be alive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/archibald-macleish/poetry-is-the-art-of-understanding-what-it-is-to-be-alive/) [Archibald MacLeish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/archibald-macleish/) > [Poetry is the art of overhearing ourselves say things from which it is impossible to retreat.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-whyte/poetry-is-the-art-of-overhearing-ourselves-say-things-from-which-it/) [David Whyte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-whyte/) > [Poetry is the only art people haven't learned to consume like soup.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/poetry-is-the-only-art-people-haven-t-learned-to-consume-like-soup/) [W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/) > [Poetry is often the art of overhearing yourself say things you didn't know you knew. It is a learned skill to force yourself to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-whyte/poetry-is-often-the-art-of-overhearing-yourself-say-things-you-didn-t/) [David Whyte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-whyte/) > [So far as I am concerned, poetry and every other art was and is and forever will be strictly and distinctly a question of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-e-cummings/so-far-as-i-am-concerned-poetry-and-every-other-art-was-and-is-and/) [e. e. cummings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-e-cummings/) > [Poetry is a section of river-fog and moving boat-lights, delivered between bridges and whistles, so one says, 'Oh!' and another, 'How?'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sandburg/poetry-is-a-section-of-river-fog-and-moving-boat-lights-delivered/) [Carl Sandburg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sandburg/) > [Poetry is a diary kept by a sea creature who lives on land and wishes he could fly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sandburg/poetry-is-a-diary-kept-by-a-sea-creature-who-lives-on-land-and-wishes/) [Carl Sandburg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sandburg/) > [Poetry is a series of explanations of life, fading off into horizons too swift for explanations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sandburg/poetry-is-a-series-of-explanations-of-life-fading-off-into-horizons/) [Carl Sandburg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sandburg/) > [Poetry is a dance music measuring buck-and-wing follies along with the gravest and stateliest dead-marches.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sandburg/poetry-is-a-dance-music-measuring-buck-and-wing-follies-along-with/) [Carl Sandburg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sandburg/) > [Poetry is the silence and speech between a wet struggling root of a flower and a sunlit blossom of that flower.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sandburg/poetry-is-the-silence-and-speech-between-a-wet-struggling-root-of-a/) [Carl Sandburg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sandburg/) > [Poetry is the cipher key to the five mystic wishes packed in a hollow silver bullet fed to a flying fish.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sandburg/poetry-is-the-cipher-key-to-the-five-mystic-wishes-packed-in-a-hollow/) [Carl Sandburg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sandburg/) > [Poetry is a puppet-show, where riders of skyrockets and divers of sea fathoms gossip about the sixth sense and the fourth dimension.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sandburg/poetry-is-a-puppet-show-where-riders-of-skyrockets-and-divers-of-sea/) [Carl Sandburg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sandburg/) > [Poetry is a tracing of the trajectories of a finite sound to the infinite points of its echoes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sandburg/poetry-is-a-tracing-of-the-trajectories-of-a-finite-sound-to-the/) [Carl Sandburg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sandburg/) > [Poetry is a sky dark with a wild-duck migration.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sandburg/poetry-is-a-sky-dark-with-a-wild-duck-migration/) [Carl Sandburg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sandburg/) ## More by Carl Sandburg > [Arithmetic is numbers you squeeze from your head to your hand to your pencil to your paper till you get the answer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sandburg/arithmetic-is-numbers-you-squeeze-from-your-head-to-your-hand-to-your/) [Carl Sandburg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sandburg/) > [Gather the stars if you wish it so Gather the songs and keep them. Gather the faces of women. Gather for keeping years and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sandburg/gather-the-stars-if-you-wish-it-so-gather-the-songs-and-keep-them/) [Carl Sandburg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sandburg/) > [Back of every mistaken venture and defeat is the laughter of wisdom, if you listen.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sandburg/back-of-every-mistaken-venture-and-defeat-is-the-laughter-of-wisdom/) [Carl Sandburg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sandburg/) > [Somebody's little girl- how easy it is to make a sob story over who she once was and who she now is.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sandburg/somebody-s-little-girl-how-easy-it-is-to-make-a-sob-story-over-who/) [Carl Sandburg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sandburg/) > [Let your heart look on white sea spray and be lonely. Love is a fool star. You and a ring of stars may mention…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sandburg/let-your-heart-look-on-white-sea-spray-and-be-lonely-love-is-a-fool/) [Carl Sandburg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sandburg/) > [Two bubbles found they had rainbows on their curves. They flickered out saying: "It was worth being a bubble, just to have held that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sandburg/two-bubbles-found-they-had-rainbows-on-their-curves-they-flickered/) [Carl Sandburg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sandburg/) > [Poetry is a series of explanations of life, fading off into horizons too swift for explanations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sandburg/poetry-is-a-series-of-explanations-of-life-fading-off-into-horizons/) [Carl Sandburg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sandburg/) > [There are ten men in me and I do not know or understand one of them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sandburg/there-are-ten-men-in-me-and-i-do-not-know-or-understand-one-of-them/) [Carl Sandburg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sandburg/) > [The drum in a dream pounds loud to the dreamer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sandburg/the-drum-in-a-dream-pounds-loud-to-the-dreamer/) [Carl Sandburg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sandburg/) > [“Time is the most valuable coin in your life. You and you alone will determine how that coin will be spent. Be careful that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sandburg/time-is-the-most-valuable-coin-in-your-life-you-and-you-alone-will/) [Carl Sandburg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sandburg/) > [Poetry is the opening and closing of a door, leaving those who look through to guess about what is seen during the moment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sandburg/poetry-is-the-opening-and-closing-of-a-door-leaving-those-who-look/) [Carl Sandburg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sandburg/) > [a women is like a tea bag.it's only when she is in hot water that you realize how strong she is.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sandburg/a-women-is-like-a-tea-bag-it-s-only-when-she-is-in-hot-water-that-you/) [Carl Sandburg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sandburg/) > [My name is Truth and I am the most elusive captive in the universe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sandburg/my-name-is-truth-and-i-am-the-most-elusive-captive-in-the-universe/) [Carl Sandburg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sandburg/) > [I won't take my religion from any man who never works except with his mouth and never cherishes any memory except the face of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sandburg/i-won-t-take-my-religion-from-any-man-who-never-works-except-with-his/) [Carl Sandburg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sandburg/) > [Rest is not a word of free people. Rest is a monarchical word.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sandburg/rest-is-not-a-word-of-free-people-rest-is-a-monarchical-word/) [Carl Sandburg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sandburg/) [Explore all 320 Carl Sandburg quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sandburg/) ## More Art quotes > [True works of art contain their own theory and give us the measurement according to which we should judge them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/true-works-of-art-contain-their-own-theory-and-give-us-the/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [Before Noah, men having only water to drink, could not find the truth. Accordingly...they became abominably wicked, and they were justly exterminated by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-franklin/before-noah-men-having-only-water-to-drink-could-not-find-the-truth/) [Benjamin Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-franklin/) > [“Hear the sum of the whole matter in the compass of one brief word — every art possessed by man comes from Prometheus.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aeschylus/hear-the-sum-of-the-whole-matter-in-the-compass-of-one-brief-word/) [Aeschylus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aeschylus/) > [I think most artists feel like they're outside society - no matter how many accolades they receive, or how much money is in your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aaron-rose/i-think-most-artists-feel-like-they-re-outside-society-no-matter-how/) [Aaron Rose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aaron-rose/) > [The capacity to be puzzled is the premise of all creation, be it in art or in science.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erich-fromm/the-capacity-to-be-puzzled-is-the-premise-of-all-creation-be-it-in/) [Erich Fromm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-fromm/) > [That's the great secret of creativity. You treat ideas like cats: you make them follow you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/that-s-the-great-secret-of-creativity-you-treat-ideas-like-cats-you/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [“So, really," continued Jacob as if this were perfectly normal to expound on art in these circumstances, "when you think about it, the artists…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justina-chen-headley/so-really-continued-jacob-as-if-this-were-perfectly-normal-to-expound/) [Justina Chen Headley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justina-chen-headley/) > [“There are two options in art; either to adopt philosophical life by dissecting art, or to write your own philosophical life and claim it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/taf-teh/there-are-two-options-in-art-either-to-adopt-philosophical-life-by/) Taf Teh > [The house has to serve comfort. The work of art is revolutionary; the house is conservative.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-loos/the-house-has-to-serve-comfort-the-work-of-art-is-revolutionary-the/) [Adolf Loos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-loos/) > [During human progress, every science is evolved out of its corresponding art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-spencer/during-human-progress-every-science-is-evolved-out-of-its/) [Herbert Spencer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-spencer/) > [In literature and art memory is a synonym for invention. It is the life-blood of imagination, which faints and dies when the veins are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-aris-willmott/in-literature-and-art-memory-is-a-synonym-for-invention-it-is-the/) [Robert Aris Willmott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-aris-willmott/) > [I think a business guy is different from an artist. They walk different paths. Artists create the best outputs when they're having fun. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-dragon/i-think-a-business-guy-is-different-from-an-artist-they-walk/) [G-Dragon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-dragon/) > [“The only thing--I tell you this straight from the heart--that disgusts me in Salzburg is that one can't have any proper social intercourse with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wolfgang-amadeus-mozart/the-only-thing-i-tell-you-this-straight-from-the-heart-that-disgusts/) [Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wolfgang-amadeus-mozart/) > [The sublime in art is the attempt to express the infinite without finding in the realm of phenomena any object which proves itself fitting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/the-sublime-in-art-is-the-attempt-to-express-the-infinite-without/) [Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/) > [Art isn't done to decorate apartments, but to wage war against the enemy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/art-isn-t-done-to-decorate-apartments-but-to-wage-war-against-the/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) [Browse all 48,643 Art quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Poetry is an art practiced with the terribly plastic material of human language.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Carl Sandburg" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sandburg/poetry-is-an-art-practiced-with-the-terribly-plastic-material-of/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Art" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sandburg/poetry-is-an-art-practiced-with-the-terribly-plastic-material-of/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ed1/carl-sandburg-952_art_poetry-is-an-art-practiced-with-the-terr_1455097.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ed1/carl-sandburg-952_art_poetry-is-an-art-practiced-with-the-terr_1455097.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ed1/carl-sandburg-952_art_poetry-is-an-art-practiced-with-the-terr_1455097.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Poetry is an art practiced with the terribly plastic material of human language.” — Carl Sandburg", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Carl Sandburg", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sandburg/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Poetry is an art practiced with...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sandburg/poetry-is-an-art-practiced-with-the-terribly-plastic-material-of/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sandburg/poetry-is-an-art-practiced-with-the-terribly-plastic-material-of/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```