--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: True poetry is a function of awakening…" description: "\"True poetry is a function of awakening. It awakens us, but it must retain the memory of previous dreams.\" — Gaston Bachelard" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/962/gaston-bachelard-2318_awakening_true-poetry-is-a-function-of-awakening-i_343566.jpg" --- # True poetry is a function of awakening. It awakens us, but… ![“True poetry is a function of awakening. It awakens us, but it must retain the memory of previous dreams.” quote by Gaston Bachelard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/962/gaston-bachelard-2318_awakening_true-poetry-is-a-function-of-awakening-i_343566.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/962/gaston-bachelard-2318_awakening_true-poetry-is-a-function-of-awakening-i_343566.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/962/gaston-bachelard-2318_awakening_true-poetry-is-a-function-of-awakening-i_343566.jpg) > “True poetry is a function of awakening. It awakens us, but it must retain the memory of previous dreams.” [Gaston Bachelard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gaston-bachelard/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Poetry awakens consciousness while preserving the legacy of past dreams. **In simple terms:** Poetry sparks awakening, remembering past dreams. Key Takeaway Create art that awakens and honors memory. Themes creativity awakening memory art Mood reflective inspired Type philosophical artistic When to use this quote - writing workshops - art therapy - educational curricula Key Concepts phenomenology dream analysis Questions to Reflect On - How does memory influence your creative process? - Can awakening coexist with tradition? A Different Perspective Risk of stagnation if past dominates present. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Awakening](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/awakening/) [Awakens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/awakens/) [Creativity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creativity/) [Dream](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dream/) [Dreams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dreams/) [Memories](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/memories/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) ## Related quotes > [True poetry is not of earth, 'T is more of Heaven by its birth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-faulkner/true-poetry-is-not-of-earth-t-is-more-of-heaven-by-its-birth/) [William Faulkner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-faulkner/) > [True poetry is born of scrutiny, Scrutiny, the son of meditation, Meditation, the son of lore, Lore, the son of inquiry, Inquiry, the son…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-r-lawhead/true-poetry-is-born-of-scrutiny-scrutiny-the-son-of-meditation/) [Stephen R. Lawhead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-r-lawhead/) > [The great modern heresy in poetry is to confuse the use we make of words in a poem with modalities of speech...For true poetry…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-read/the-great-modern-heresy-in-poetry-is-to-confuse-the-use-we-make-of/) [Herbert Read](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-read/) > [True poetry is truer than science, because it is synthetic, and seizes at once what the combination of all the sciences is able, at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henri-frederic-amiel/true-poetry-is-truer-than-science-because-it-is-synthetic-and-seizes/) [Henri Frederic Amiel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henri-frederic-amiel/) > [The spark of true poetry flashes when ideas are juxtaposed that no one has yet thought of bringing together.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-m-coetzee-2/the-spark-of-true-poetry-flashes-when-ideas-are-juxtaposed-that-no/) [J. M. Coetzee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-m-coetzee-2/) > [“True poetry is the fragrance of the heart in the house of peace.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sir-kristian-goldmund-aumann/true-poetry-is-the-fragrance-of-the-heart-in-the-house-of-peace/) sir kristian goldmund aumann > [Nowhere probably is there more true feeling, and nowhere worse taste, than in a churchyard - both as regards the monuments and the inscriptions.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-jowett/nowhere-probably-is-there-more-true-feeling-and-nowhere-worse-taste-2/) [Benjamin Jowett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-jowett/) > [To delight the ear and the eye is a mere sensual indulgence;—true poetry strikes at the soul.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/egerton-brydges/to-delight-the-ear-and-the-eye-is-a-mere-sensual-indulgence-true/) [Egerton Brydges](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/egerton-brydges/) > [Nothing will sustain you more potently than the power to recognize in your humdrum routine, as perhaps it may be thought, the true poetry…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-osler/nothing-will-sustain-you-more-potently-than-the-power-to-recognize-in/) [William Osler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-osler/) > [True poetry ought to be secret and clandestine, concealed like a prohibited voice of dissent, while at the same time it should speak to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claudio-magris/true-poetry-ought-to-be-secret-and-clandestine-concealed-like-a/) [Claudio Magris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claudio-magris/) > [There is but one poetry,--true poetry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/there-is-but-one-poetry-true-poetry/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [That metre itself forms an essential part of all true poetry is a principle which not even the assertions of an Aristotle or the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-p-lovecraft/that-metre-itself-forms-an-essential-part-of-all-true-poetry-is-a/) [H. P. Lovecraft](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-p-lovecraft/) > [“We may feel bitterly how little our poems can do in the face of seemingly out of control technological power and seemingly limitless corporate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/we-may-feel-bitterly-how-little-our-poems-can-do-in-the-face-of/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) > [Yet, it is true, poetry is delicious; the best prose is that which is most full of poetry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/yet-it-is-true-poetry-is-delicious-the-best-prose-is-that-which-is/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [If you examine the highest poetry in the light of common sense, you can only say that it is rubbish; and in actual fact…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleister-crowley/if-you-examine-the-highest-poetry-in-the-light-of-common-sense-you/) [Aleister Crowley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleister-crowley/) ## More by Gaston Bachelard > [Dreaming by the river, I dedicated my imagination to water, to clear, green water, the water that makes the meadows green.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gaston-bachelard/dreaming-by-the-river-i-dedicated-my-imagination-to-water-to-clear/) [Gaston Bachelard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gaston-bachelard/) > [If we did not have a feminine being within us, how would we rest ourselves?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gaston-bachelard/if-we-did-not-have-a-feminine-being-within-us-how-would-we-rest/) [Gaston Bachelard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gaston-bachelard/) > [The image can only be studied through the image, by dreaming images as they gather in reverie. It is a non-sense to claim to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gaston-bachelard/the-image-can-only-be-studied-through-the-image-by-dreaming-images-as/) [Gaston Bachelard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gaston-bachelard/) > [If there is any realm where distinction is especially difficult, it is the realm of childhood memories, the realm of beloved images harbored in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gaston-bachelard/if-there-is-any-realm-where-distinction-is-especially-difficult-it-is/) [Gaston Bachelard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gaston-bachelard/) > [In scientific thought, the concept functions all the better for being cut off from all background images. In its full exercise, the scientific concept…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gaston-bachelard/in-scientific-thought-the-concept-functions-all-the-better-for-being/) [Gaston Bachelard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gaston-bachelard/) > [It is through the intentionality of poetic imagination that the poet's soul discovers the opening of consciousness common to all true poetry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gaston-bachelard/it-is-through-the-intentionality-of-poetic-imagination-that-the-poet/) [Gaston Bachelard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gaston-bachelard/) > [In writing, you discover interior sonorities in words. Dipthongs sound differently beneath the pen. One hears them with their sounds divorced.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gaston-bachelard/in-writing-you-discover-interior-sonorities-in-words-dipthongs-sound/) [Gaston Bachelard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gaston-bachelard/) > [Here we are at the very core of the thesis we wish to defend in the present essay: reverie is under the sign of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gaston-bachelard/here-we-are-at-the-very-core-of-the-thesis-we-wish-to-defend-in-the/) [Gaston Bachelard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gaston-bachelard/) > [There are children who will leave a game to go and be bored in a corner of the garret. How often have I wished…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gaston-bachelard/there-are-children-who-will-leave-a-game-to-go-and-be-bored-in-a/) [Gaston Bachelard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gaston-bachelard/) > [Ideas are refined and multiplied in the commerce of minds. In their splendor, images effect a very simple communion of souls.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gaston-bachelard/ideas-are-refined-and-multiplied-in-the-commerce-of-minds-in-their/) [Gaston Bachelard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gaston-bachelard/) > [The poetic image is a sudden salience on the surface of the psyche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gaston-bachelard/the-poetic-image-is-a-sudden-salience-on-the-surface-of-the-psyche/) [Gaston Bachelard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gaston-bachelard/) > [In our view any awareness is an increment to consciousness, an added light, a reinforcement of psychic coherence. Its swiftness or instantaneity can hide…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gaston-bachelard/in-our-view-any-awareness-is-an-increment-to-consciousness-an-added/) [Gaston Bachelard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gaston-bachelard/) > [Imagination is a tree. It has the integrative virtues of a tree. It is root and boughs. It lives between earth and sky. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gaston-bachelard/imagination-is-a-tree-it-has-the-integrative-virtues-of-a-tree-it-is/) [Gaston Bachelard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gaston-bachelard/) > [Two half philosophers will probably never a whole metaphysician make.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gaston-bachelard/two-half-philosophers-will-probably-never-a-whole-metaphysician-make/) [Gaston Bachelard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gaston-bachelard/) > [Irony gives us, at little expense, the impression that we are experienced psychologists.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gaston-bachelard/irony-gives-us-at-little-expense-the-impression-that-we-are/) [Gaston Bachelard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gaston-bachelard/) [Explore all 166 Gaston Bachelard quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gaston-bachelard/) ## More Awakening quotes > [It is natural that our minds replay old stories, because that is our own mechanism for trying to work out unresolved problems. Yet rerunning…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tara-brach/it-is-natural-that-our-minds-replay-old-stories-because-that-is-our/) [Tara Brach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tara-brach/) > [Imitation is the first instinct of the awakening mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maria-montessori/imitation-is-the-first-instinct-of-the-awakening-mind/) [Maria Montessori](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maria-montessori/) > [“It is not so much about fighting against the ego; it is more about harmonizing with it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-sara/it-is-not-so-much-about-fighting-against-the-ego-it-is-more-about/) [Grace Sara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-sara/) > [Dawn's faint breath breathes with your mouth at the ends of empty streets. Gray light your eyes, sweet drops of dawn on dark hills.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cesare-pavese/dawn-s-faint-breath-breathes-with-your-mouth-at-the-ends-of-empty/) [Cesare Pavese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cesare-pavese/) > [“Low states are a like a poison to the psyche. Millions of people throughout the world take tranquillizers each day to combat depression, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/belsebuub/low-states-are-a-like-a-poison-to-the-psyche-millions-of-people/) [Belsebuub](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/belsebuub/) > [The awakening of the soul to its bondage and its effort to stand up and assert itself - this is called life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/swami-vivekananda/the-awakening-of-the-soul-to-its-bondage-and-its-effort-to-stand-up/) [Swami Vivekananda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/swami-vivekananda/) > [My political awakening, if I can be as grand as to call it that, was all about what was happening around me. It wasn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicola-sturgeon/my-political-awakening-if-i-can-be-as-grand-as-to-call-it-that-was/) [Nicola Sturgeon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicola-sturgeon/) > [How often have you sailed in my dreams. And now you come in my awakening.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/how-often-have-you-sailed-in-my-dreams-and-now-you-come-in-my/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“CWC (Church Women Concerned) enabled us as women in that part of South Africa, to see ourselves as ordinary citizens who found themselves in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sindiwe-magona/cwc-church-women-concerned-enabled-us-as-women-in-that-part-of-south/) Sindiwe Magona > [I feel there is a great spiritual awakening on the planet right now. More than any previous time, people are drawn to meditation, to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agapi-stassinopoulos/i-feel-there-is-a-great-spiritual-awakening-on-the-planet-right-now/) [Agapi Stassinopoulos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agapi-stassinopoulos/) > [When I was 20 years old, I got cast in 'Spring Awakening' and got swept up in this experience where it was kind of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-groff/when-i-was-20-years-old-i-got-cast-in-spring-awakening-and-got-swept/) [Jonathan Groff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-groff/) > [Motivation is awakening own mind and Inspiration is arising spirit in others to find their own with their heart and soul in all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anuj/motivation-is-awakening-own-mind-and-inspiration-is-arising-spirit-in/) [Anuj](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anuj/) > [“Everything we perceive to be solid and static is made up of almost entirely empty space.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-p-kauffman/everything-we-perceive-to-be-solid-and-static-is-made-up-of-almost/) [Joseph P. Kauffman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-p-kauffman/) > [Life is perhaps best regarded as a bad dream between two awakenings.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eugene-o-neill/life-is-perhaps-best-regarded-as-a-bad-dream-between-two-awakenings/) [Eugene O'Neill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eugene-o-neill/) > [“The Illusion - The source of suffering can be linked back to a condition of the mind that creates the illusion of separation--the state…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-m-blanchard/the-illusion-the-source-of-suffering-can-be-linked-back-to-a/) L.M.Blanchard [Browse all 1,440 Awakening quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/awakening/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "True poetry is a function of awakening. 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