--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: You want to be a poet and not die." description: "\"“You want to be a poet and not die.”\" — Erica Jong" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9cb/erica-jong-445_poetry_you-want-to-be-a-poet-and-not-die-147739_1477393.jpg" --- # You want to be a poet and not die. ![“You want to be a poet and not die.” quote by Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9cb/erica-jong-445_poetry_you-want-to-be-a-poet-and-not-die-147739_1477393.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9cb/erica-jong-445_poetry_you-want-to-be-a-poet-and-not-die-147739_1477393.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9cb/erica-jong-445_poetry_you-want-to-be-a-poet-and-not-die-147739_1477393.jpg) > ““You want to be a poet and not die.”” [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote juxtaposes artistic aspiration with mortality, urging one to pursue creative expression before life ends. **In simple terms:** Pursue art before you die. Key Takeaway Live creatively now. Themes creativity mortality urgency Mood reflective determined Type inspirational philosophical When to use this quote - writing - painting - music composition - personal projects Key Concepts existentialism artistic drive Questions to Reflect On - What creative work will you start today? - How does awareness of mortality affect your art? A Different Perspective The metaphor may be overly dramatic for some audiences. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Poet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poet/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) ## Related quotes > [“The Woman Poet // Die Dichterin You hold me now completely in your hands. 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But after that you assume everything’s going to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/a-poet-might-die-at-twenty-one-a-revolutionary-or-a-rock-star-at/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) > [“Destiny never defames herself but when she lets an excellent poet die.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-nashe/destiny-never-defames-herself-but-when-she-lets-an-excellent-poet-die/) [Thomas Nashe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-nashe/) > [For now the poet cannot die, Nor leave his music as of old, But round him ere he scarce be cold Begins the scandal…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-lord-tennyson/for-now-the-poet-cannot-die-nor-leave-his-music-as-of-old-but-round/) [Alfred Lord Tennyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-lord-tennyson/) > [I want to be a poet, from head to toe, living and dying by poetry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/federico-garc-a-lorca/i-want-to-be-a-poet-from-head-to-toe-living-and-dying-by-poetry/) [Federico Garcia Lorca](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/federico-garc-a-lorca/) > [I'm now making myself as scummy as I can. Why? I want to be a poet, and I'm working at turning myself into a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-rimbaud/i-m-now-making-myself-as-scummy-as-i-can-why-i-want-to-be-a-poet-and/) [Arthur Rimbaud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-rimbaud/) > [I want to be a poet and have a chance to explore that and let people know what's really on my mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christina-aguilera/i-want-to-be-a-poet-and-have-a-chance-to-explore-that-and-let-people/) [Christina Aguilera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christina-aguilera/) > [Being an artist is nothing, or at least, not enough; what you want is to be a poet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luc-delahaye/being-an-artist-is-nothing-or-at-least-not-enough-what-you-want-is-to/) [Luc Delahaye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luc-delahaye/) > [I think one of poetry's functions is not to give us what we want... The poet isn't always of use to the tribe. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heather-mchugh/i-think-one-of-poetry-s-functions-is-not-to-give-us-what-we-want-the/) [Heather McHugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heather-mchugh/) > [I want to be a poet. I don't want to talk about genies in bottles anymore.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christina-aguilera/i-want-to-be-a-poet-i-don-t-want-to-talk-about-genies-in-bottles/) [Christina Aguilera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christina-aguilera/) > [“You want to be a poet and you’re not. By the time you realize you’re not doomed, your life is going to be over…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tarryn-fisher/you-want-to-be-a-poet-and-you-re-not-by-the-time-you-realize-you-re/) [Tarryn Fisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tarryn-fisher/) > [Critics write out of intellectual exercise, not poets. Poets write straight from the heart.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/critics-write-out-of-intellectual-exercise-not-poets-poets-write/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [“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/) > [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/) > [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/) ## More by Erica Jong > [“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/) > [Will you ever? I dont think you will ever fully understand how you've touched my life and made me who I am.I don't think…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/will-you-ever-i-dont-think-you-will-ever-fully-understand-how-you-ve/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [Give advice to your children while they're young enough to believe you know what you're talking about.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/give-advice-to-your-children-while-they-re-young-enough-to-believe/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [Perhaps all artists were, in a sense, housewives: tenders of the earth household.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/perhaps-all-artists-were-in-a-sense-housewives-tenders-of-the-earth/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [I have lived my life according to this principle: If I'm afraid of it, then I must do it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/i-have-lived-my-life-according-to-this-principle-if-i-m-afraid-of-it/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [I thought to spend my declining years writing poetry and teaching - but that won't pay the Bergdorf's bill. I think I'll move to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/i-thought-to-spend-my-declining-years-writing-poetry-and-teaching-but/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [“Naomi Wolf dares to explode the myth of 'victim feminism' and pleads for allowing women to be as full of good and bad desires…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/naomi-wolf-dares-to-explode-the-myth-of-victim-feminism-and-pleads/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [I knew I was in England by the smell.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/i-knew-i-was-in-england-by-the-smell/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [The Lives of Great Men are more oft' at variance with their profess'd Phillosophies than consistent with 'em.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/the-lives-of-great-men-are-more-oft-at-variance-with-their-profess-d/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [Women's books are kind of discriminated against. If a man writes a book about his family stories, people think of it as literature. If…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/women-s-books-are-kind-of-discriminated-against-if-a-man-writes-a/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [Many, many people have done a lot more sexual experimentation than I have.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/many-many-people-have-done-a-lot-more-sexual-experimentation-than-i/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [“Is life much too long for an immortal?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/is-life-much-too-long-for-an-immortal/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [Don't ye know that ev'ry Soul on Earth feels itself to be an Orphan?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/don-t-ye-know-that-ev-ry-soul-on-earth-feels-itself-to-be-an-orphan/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [Critics write out of intellectual exercise, not poets. Poets write straight from the heart.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/critics-write-out-of-intellectual-exercise-not-poets-poets-write/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [Once I worshipped Keats for dying young. Now I think it's braver to die old.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/once-i-worshipped-keats-for-dying-young-now-i-think-it-s-braver-to/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) [Explore all 542 Erica Jong quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) ## More Poet 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/) > [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/) > [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/) > [“Without pain, poetry is not possible.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seerat/without-pain-poetry-is-not-possible/) seerat > [“This spending of the best part of one's life earning money in order to enjoy a questionable liberty during the least valuable part of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/this-spending-of-the-best-part-of-one-s-life-earning-money-in-order/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [I think that at a certain age, say fifteen or sixteen, poetry is like masturbation. But later in life good poets burn their early…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/umberto-eco/i-think-that-at-a-certain-age-say-fifteen-or-sixteen-poetry-is-like/) [Umberto Eco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umberto-eco/) > [The poet reminds men of their uniqueness and it is not necessary to possess the ultimate definition of this uniqueness. Even to speculate is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-cousins/the-poet-reminds-men-of-their-uniqueness-and-it-is-not-necessary-to/) [Norman Cousins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-cousins/) > [“The poet is just like the fabled hunter who naps beside a tree, waiting for hares to break their skulls by running headlong into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gu-cheng/the-poet-is-just-like-the-fabled-hunter-who-naps-beside-a-tree/) Gu Cheng > [Drill in exact translation is an excellent way of disposing the mind against that looseness and exaggeration with which the sensationalists have corrupted our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-m-weaver/drill-in-exact-translation-is-an-excellent-way-of-disposing-the-mind/) [Richard M. Weaver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-m-weaver/) > [“A poet is someone who can pour light into a cup, then raise it to nourish your beautiful parched, holy mouth.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hafiz/a-poet-is-someone-who-can-pour-light-into-a-cup-then-raise-it-to/) [Hafiz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hafiz/) > [Defeat furnishes good material to the poets and the artists, but none of us care to have the glory of the conquered apply to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-glaspell/defeat-furnishes-good-material-to-the-poets-and-the-artists-but-none/) [Susan Glaspell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-glaspell/) > [Poetry and preaching do not go well together; when the preacher mounts the pulpit the poet usually goes away.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-hamilton/poetry-and-preaching-do-not-go-well-together-when-the-preacher-mounts/) [Edith Hamilton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-hamilton/) > [“If you're a poet, you do something beautiful. I mean you're supposed to leave something beautiful after you get off the page and everything.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-d-salinger/if-you-re-a-poet-you-do-something-beautiful-i-mean-you-re-supposed-to/) [J.D. Salinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-d-salinger/) > [One of my favorite poets, Neruda, writes close to the bone. Though I know only a little Spanish, I like to compare the Spanish…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anita-diament/one-of-my-favorite-poets-neruda-writes-close-to-the-bone-though-i/) [Anita Diament](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-diament/) > [I've always written. When I was in school, the only teacher who ever liked me was my creative writing teacher. I used to enter…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justin-townes-earle/i-ve-always-written-when-i-was-in-school-the-only-teacher-who-ever/) [Justin Townes Earle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justin-townes-earle/) [Browse all 4,584 Poet quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poet/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“You want to be a poet and not die.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Erica Jong" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/you-want-to-be-a-poet-and-not-die/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Poet" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/you-want-to-be-a-poet-and-not-die/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9cb/erica-jong-445_poetry_you-want-to-be-a-poet-and-not-die-147739_1477393.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9cb/erica-jong-445_poetry_you-want-to-be-a-poet-and-not-die-147739_1477393.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9cb/erica-jong-445_poetry_you-want-to-be-a-poet-and-not-die-147739_1477393.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“You want to be a poet and not die.” — Erica Jong", "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": "Erica Jong", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“You want to be a poet...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/you-want-to-be-a-poet-and-not-die/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/you-want-to-be-a-poet-and-not-die/#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 } } ] } ```