--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Every true poet, I thought, must be…" description: "\"Every true poet, I thought, must be original and originality a condition of poetic genius; so that each poet is like a species in nature (not an indivi..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fab/gerard-manley-hopkins-4543_borrowed_every-true-poet-i-thought-must-be-origin_548067.png" --- # Every true poet, I thought, must be original and… ![“Every true poet, I thought, must be original and originality a condition of poetic genius; so that each poet is like a species in nature (not an individuum genericum or specificum ) and can never recur. That nothing shd. be old or borrowed however cannot be.” quote by Gerard Manley Hopkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fab/gerard-manley-hopkins-4543_borrowed_every-true-poet-i-thought-must-be-origin_548067.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fab/gerard-manley-hopkins-4543_borrowed_every-true-poet-i-thought-must-be-origin_548067.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fab/gerard-manley-hopkins-4543_borrowed_every-true-poet-i-thought-must-be-origin_548067.png) > “Every true poet, I thought, must be original and originality a condition of poetic genius; so that each poet is like a species in nature (not an individuum genericum or specificum ) and can never recur. That nothing shd. be old or borrowed however cannot be.” [Gerard Manley Hopkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerard-manley-hopkins/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Originality is essential to poetic genius; each poet is a unique species that cannot be replicated, so true poetry must avoid borrowing. **In simple terms:** Poetry must be original and unique. Key Takeaway Cultivate a distinct voice. Themes originality genius uniqueness Mood reflective inspired Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - writing workshops - literary criticism - personal journaling - teaching poetry Key Concepts poetic identity creativity authenticity Questions to Reflect On - How can you honor tradition while staying original? - What defines a poet's unique voice? A Different Perspective Even great poets are influenced by predecessors, making pure originality rare. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Genius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/genius/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Originality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/originality/) [Poet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poet/) [Poetic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetic/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) ## Related quotes > [“That's a poet.' 'I thought you said it was a bo-at.' 'Stupid pet! Don't you know what a poet it?' 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Rather than being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-forsyth/english-teaching-at-school-is-unfortunately-obsessed-with-what-a-poet/) [Mark Forsyth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-forsyth/) > [“Dante is the first Christian poet, the first one whose whole system of thought is colored by a pure Christian theology. But the poem…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-pearl/dante-is-the-first-christian-poet-the-first-one-whose-whole-system-of/) [Matthew Pearl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-pearl/) > [Maybe I should have taken a few chances. 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Bristol](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-m-bristol/) > [“Thought is the original source of all wealth, all success, all material gain, all great discoveries and inventions, and all acheivement.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-m-bristol/thought-is-the-original-source-of-all-wealth-all-success-all-material/) [Claude M. Bristol](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-m-bristol/) > [Original thought, original artistic expression is by its very nature questioning, irreverent, iconoclastic.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/original-thought-original-artistic-expression-is-by-its-very-nature/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [I like learning stuff. The more information you can get about a person or a subject, the more you can pour into a potential…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-grazer/i-like-learning-stuff-the-more-information-you-can-get-about-a-person/) [Brian Grazer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-grazer/) > [I deny the right of Congress to force a slaveholding State upon an unwilling people. I deny their right to force a free State…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-a-douglas/i-deny-the-right-of-congress-to-force-a-slaveholding-state-upon-an/) [Stephen A. Douglas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-a-douglas/) > [There are courageous and honest men enough in both sections to fight. There is no question of courage involved. The people of both sections…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-toombs/there-are-courageous-and-honest-men-enough-in-both-sections-to-fight/) [Robert Toombs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-toombs/) > [Does not every true man feel that he is himself made higher by doing reverence to what is really above him?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-carlyle/does-not-every-true-man-feel-that-he-is-himself-made-higher-by-doing/) [Thomas Carlyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-carlyle/) ## More by Gerard Manley Hopkins > [No wonder of it: sheer plod makes plough down sillion Shine, and blue-bleak embers, ah my dear, Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermilion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerard-manley-hopkins/no-wonder-of-it-sheer-plod-makes-plough-down-sillion-shine-and-blue/) [Gerard Manley Hopkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerard-manley-hopkins/) > [O the mind, mind has mountains; cliffs of fall Frightful, sheer, no-man-fathomed. 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A strain of the earth's sweet being in the beginning In Eden garden.-Have, get, before…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerard-manley-hopkins/what-is-all-this-juice-and-all-this-joy-a-strain-of-the-earth-s-sweet/) [Gerard Manley Hopkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerard-manley-hopkins/) > [It is not only prayer that gives God glory but work. 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Let them be left, O let them be left, wildness and wet;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerard-manley-hopkins/what-would-the-world-be-once-bereft-of-wet-and-of-wildness-let-them/) [Gerard Manley Hopkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerard-manley-hopkins/) > [The world is charged with the grandeur of God. 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Ours is but a flame borrowed thence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-herbert/true-beauty-lives-on-high-ours-is-but-a-flame-borrowed-thence/) [George Herbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-herbert/) Browse all 343 Borrowed quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Every true poet, I thought, must be original and originality a condition of poetic genius; so that each poet is like a species in nature (not an individuum genericum or specificum ) and can never recur. 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