--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Poetry and prayer are very similar" description: "\"Poetry and prayer are very similar\" — Carol Ann Duffy" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c26/carol-ann-duffy-10503_poetry_poetry-and-prayer-are-very-similar-30071_300710.png" --- # Poetry and prayer are very similar ![“Poetry and prayer are very similar” quote by Carol Ann Duffy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c26/carol-ann-duffy-10503_poetry_poetry-and-prayer-are-very-similar-30071_300710.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c26/carol-ann-duffy-10503_poetry_poetry-and-prayer-are-very-similar-30071_300710.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c26/carol-ann-duffy-10503_poetry_poetry-and-prayer-are-very-similar-30071_300710.png) > “Poetry and prayer are very similar” [Carol Ann Duffy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carol-ann-duffy/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Poetry and prayer share a rhythmic, meditative quality that connects language with the divine. **In simple terms:** Both use rhythm to reach beyond self. Key Takeaway Use poetic rhythm to deepen spiritual practice. Themes spirituality art language Mood contemplative inspirational Type poetic philosophical When to use this quote - worship services - creative writing workshops - mindfulness sessions - educational curricula - personal reflection Key Concepts literature theology ritual Questions to Reflect On - How does rhythm affect spiritual experience? - Can poetry replace prayer? A Different Perspective May conflate distinct traditions. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Prayer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prayer/) ## Related quotes > [Poetry to me is prayer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/poetry-to-me-is-prayer/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [“Poetry is a prayer.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/poetry-is-a-prayer/) [Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/) > [“Poetry and prayer put ideas in people’s heads that got them killed, distracting them from the ruthless mechanism of the world. After”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colson-whitehead/poetry-and-prayer-put-ideas-in-people-s-heads-that-got-them-killed/) [Colson Whitehead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colson-whitehead/) > [I have never separated the writing of poetry from prayer. I have grown up believing it is a vocation, a religious vocation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-walcott/i-have-never-separated-the-writing-of-poetry-from-prayer-i-have-grown/) [Derek Walcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-walcott/) > [Bob and I got into comedy in a similar way. On the coat-tails of our mates.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-whitehouse/bob-and-i-got-into-comedy-in-a-similar-way-on-the-coat-tails-of-our/) [Paul Whitehouse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-whitehouse/) > [I like to think Portland and L.A. are not rivals; they're cousins. As cities on the West Coast, they're distinct in their own way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fred-armisen/i-like-to-think-portland-and-l-a-are-not-rivals-they-re-cousins-as/) [Fred Armisen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fred-armisen/) > [I've always been so curious about death. With my personal beliefs as a Baha'i, we believe that birth and death are very similar and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justin-baldoni/i-ve-always-been-so-curious-about-death-with-my-personal-beliefs-as-a/) [Justin Baldoni](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justin-baldoni/) > [I'm very similar to the way I was when I was 5.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-gray-gubler/i-m-very-similar-to-the-way-i-was-when-i-was-5/) [Matthew Gray Gubler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-gray-gubler/) > [I ride my bike almost every day here in New York. It's getting safer to do so, but I do have to be fairly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-byrne/i-ride-my-bike-almost-every-day-here-in-new-york-it-s-getting-safer/) [David Byrne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-byrne/) > [I got this tiger head ring that's similar to a Cartier ring. I had my jeweler Sean from Detroit make it similar to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/big-sean/i-got-this-tiger-head-ring-that-s-similar-to-a-cartier-ring-i-had-my/) [Big Sean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/big-sean/) > [“Understanding languages and other cultures builds bridges. It is the fastest way to bring the world closer together and to Truth. Through understanding, people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suzy-kassem/understanding-languages-and-other-cultures-builds-bridges-it-is-the/) [Suzy Kassem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suzy-kassem/) > [“Don't keep looking for "something" in the bag of "nothing". You will see the same thing again and again no matter how many times…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/israelmore-ayivor/don-t-keep-looking-for-something-in-the-bag-of-nothing-you-will-see/) [Israelmore Ayivor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/israelmore-ayivor/) > [My eight years in Detroit, obviously, were my most successful years managing. I think that Pittsburgh and Detroit are probably very, very similar. We…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-leyland/my-eight-years-in-detroit-obviously-were-my-most-successful-years/) [Jim Leyland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-leyland/) > [It's so funny because the roles that I've been offered in the indie film world have been similar to each other, and the roles…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/courtney-ford/it-s-so-funny-because-the-roles-that-i-ve-been-offered-in-the-indie/) Courtney Ford > [Some pundits have proposed that the aliens have come here to breed with us. Apparently, too much bike riding or something similar has rendered…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-shostak/some-pundits-have-proposed-that-the-aliens-have-come-here-to-breed/) [Seth Shostak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-shostak/) ## More by Carol Ann Duffy > [Between 9am and 3pm is when I work most intensely](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carol-ann-duffy/between-9am-and-3pm-is-when-i-work-most-intensely/) [Carol Ann Duffy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carol-ann-duffy/) > [As anyone who has the slightest knowledge of my work knows, I have little in common with Larkin, who was tall, taciturn and thin-on-top,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carol-ann-duffy/as-anyone-who-has-the-slightest-knowledge-of-my-work-knows-i-have/) [Carol Ann Duffy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carol-ann-duffy/) > [Like the sand and the oyster, it's a creative irritant. In each poem, I'm trying to reveal a truth, so it can't have a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carol-ann-duffy/like-the-sand-and-the-oyster-it-s-a-creative-irritant-in-each-poem-i/) [Carol Ann Duffy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carol-ann-duffy/) > [Where I lived - winter and hard earth.I sat in my cold stone roomchoosing tough words, granite, flint,to break the ice. My broken heart…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carol-ann-duffy/where-i-lived-winter-and-hard-earth-i-sat-in-my-cold-stone/) [Carol Ann Duffy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carol-ann-duffy/) > [“Beauty is fame.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carol-ann-duffy/beauty-is-fame/) [Carol Ann Duffy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carol-ann-duffy/) > [I like to use simple words, but in a complicated way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carol-ann-duffy/i-like-to-use-simple-words-but-in-a-complicated-way/) [Carol Ann Duffy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carol-ann-duffy/) > [She stood upon a continent of ice, which sparkled between sea and sky, endless and dazzling, as though the world kept all its treasure…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carol-ann-duffy/she-stood-upon-a-continent-of-ice-which-sparkled-between-sea-and-sky/) [Carol Ann Duffy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carol-ann-duffy/) > [“I like pouring your tea, lifting the heavy pot, and tipping it up, so the fragrant liquid streams in your china cup. Or when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carol-ann-duffy/i-like-pouring-your-tea-lifting-the-heavy-pot-and-tipping-it-up-so/) [Carol Ann Duffy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carol-ann-duffy/) > [Every day is a gift with a child, no matter what problems you have](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carol-ann-duffy/every-day-is-a-gift-with-a-child-no-matter-what-problems-you-have/) [Carol Ann Duffy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carol-ann-duffy/) > [“I like pouring your tea, lifting the heavy pot, and tipping it up, so the fragrant liquid steams in your china cup. Or when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carol-ann-duffy/i-like-pouring-your-tea-lifting-the-heavy-pot-and-tipping-it-up-so-2/) [Carol Ann Duffy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carol-ann-duffy/) > [I am always pleased to be asked to write a poem.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carol-ann-duffy/i-am-always-pleased-to-be-asked-to-write-a-poem/) [Carol Ann Duffy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carol-ann-duffy/) > [“bees are the batteries of orchards, gardens, guard them.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carol-ann-duffy/bees-are-the-batteries-of-orchards-gardens-guard-them/) [Carol Ann Duffy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carol-ann-duffy/) > [Time hates love, wants love poor,/but love spins gold, gold, gold from straw.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carol-ann-duffy/time-hates-love-wants-love-poor-but-love-spins-gold-gold-gold-from/) [Carol Ann Duffy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carol-ann-duffy/) > [Auden said poetry makes nothing happen. But I wonder if the opposite could be true. It could make something happen.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carol-ann-duffy/auden-said-poetry-makes-nothing-happen-but-i-wonder-if-the-opposite/) [Carol Ann Duffy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carol-ann-duffy/) > [The poem is the literary form of the 21st century. It's able to connect young people in a deep way to language... it's language…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carol-ann-duffy/the-poem-is-the-literary-form-of-the-21st-century-it-s-able-to/) [Carol Ann Duffy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carol-ann-duffy/) [Explore all 65 Carol Ann Duffy quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carol-ann-duffy/) ## More Poetry quotes > [I fell in love with social work, and that was my undoing as a poet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-rakosi/i-fell-in-love-with-social-work-and-that-was-my-undoing-as-a-poet/) [Carl Rakosi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-rakosi/) > [The name Phenomenal Woman was inspired by Maya Angelo, who wrote 'Phenomenal Woman', a favorite poem of mine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meena-harris/the-name-phenomenal-woman-was-inspired-by-maya-angelo-who-wrote/) [Meena Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meena-harris/) > [A poet is wounded into speech, and he examines these wounds, meticulously, to discover how to heal them. The bad poet harangues at the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-r-delany/a-poet-is-wounded-into-speech-and-he-examines-these-wounds/) [Samuel R. Delany](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-r-delany/) > [“Time gives poetry to a battlefield...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/time-gives-poetry-to-a-battlefield/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [The poetry from the eighteenth century was prose; the prose from the seventeenth century was poetry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hare/the-poetry-from-the-eighteenth-century-was-prose-the-prose-from-the/) [David Hare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-hare/) > [“It took me years to learn to sit at my desk for more than two minutes at a time, to put up with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/it-took-me-years-to-learn-to-sit-at-my-desk-for-more-than-two-minutes/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [The word 'mundane' has come to mean 'boring' and 'dull', and it really shouldn't - it should mean the opposite. Because it comes from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/the-word-mundane-has-come-to-mean-boring-and-dull-and-it-really/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [“In the streets, the children scream, the lovers cried, and the poets dreamed,” he crooned, putting down the metal grill tongs to take my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexandria-clarke/in-the-streets-the-children-scream-the-lovers-cried-and-the-poets/) [Alexandria Clarke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexandria-clarke/) > [Some minds corrode and grow inactive under the loss of personal liberty; others grow morbid and irritable; but it is the nature of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/washington-irving/some-minds-corrode-and-grow-inactive-under-the-loss-of-personal/) [Washington Irving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/washington-irving/) > [You don’t read or overhear the voice in the poem, you are the voice in the poem.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-vendler/you-don-t-read-or-overhear-the-voice-in-the-poem-you-are-the-voice-in/) [Helen Vendler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-vendler/) > [All lyrical work must, as a whole, be perfectly intelligible, but in some particulars a little unintelligible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/all-lyrical-work-must-as-a-whole-be-perfectly-intelligible-but-in/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [The world's history is a divine poem, of which the history of every nation is a canto, and every man a word. Its strains…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-a-garfield/the-world-s-history-is-a-divine-poem-of-which-the-history-of-every/) [James A. Garfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-a-garfield/) > [I was interested in all kinds of things, whether it be Avatar, Mad Men, Troy, 300, Battlestar Gallactica, or the poems of Horace and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-mendelsohn/i-was-interested-in-all-kinds-of-things-whether-it-be-avatar-mad-men/) [Daniel Mendelsohn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-mendelsohn/) > [“I promise to respect and protect your aloneness, knowing that everything created must have its period of darkness: child and bulb, poem and personality.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-morrow-lindbergh/i-promise-to-respect-and-protect-your-aloneness-knowing-that/) [anne morrow lindbergh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-morrow-lindbergh/) > [“Things are more like they are now...than they have EVER been before!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/uncle-arnie-mamath/things-are-more-like-they-are-now-than-they-have-ever-been-before/) Uncle Arnie Mamath [Browse all 21,625 Poetry quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Poetry and prayer are very similar", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Carol Ann Duffy" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carol-ann-duffy/poetry-and-prayer-are-very-similar/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Poetry" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carol-ann-duffy/poetry-and-prayer-are-very-similar/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c26/carol-ann-duffy-10503_poetry_poetry-and-prayer-are-very-similar-30071_300710.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c26/carol-ann-duffy-10503_poetry_poetry-and-prayer-are-very-similar-30071_300710.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c26/carol-ann-duffy-10503_poetry_poetry-and-prayer-are-very-similar-30071_300710.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Poetry and prayer are very similar” — Carol Ann Duffy", "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": "Carol Ann Duffy", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carol-ann-duffy/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Poetry and prayer are very similar", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carol-ann-duffy/poetry-and-prayer-are-very-similar/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carol-ann-duffy/poetry-and-prayer-are-very-similar/#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 } } ] } ```