Able Quote by James Dickey

Each poem leads you to the questions it makes sense to ask it.

— Helen Vendler

The poem has a social effect of some kind whether or not the poet wills it to have. It has a kenetic force, it…

— Denise Levertov

It hardly seems worthwhile to point out the shortsightedness of those practitioners who would have us believe that the form of the poem is…

— Mark Strand

He who would not be frustrate of his hope to write well hereafter in laudable things ought himself to be a true poem.

— John Milton

Our taste is too delicate and particular. It says nay to the poet's work, but never yea to his hope.

— Anonymous

It is not enough for poems to be fine; they must charm, and draw the mind of the listener at will.

— Horace

Yet there are times when a deeper need enters, when we want the poem to be not only pleasurably right but compellingly wise, not…

— Seamus Heaney

I'm uncomfortable with the focus on the poet and not on the poem.

— Yusef Komunyakaa

Poetry is partly sympathy, don't you think? If it's any good, it gets people to think about others' points of view.

— Edwin Morgan

I believe the poet shouldn't be in the poem at all except as a lens or as ears.

— Alice Oswald

“Poetry is best written with the growl and the gut. The heart and the head should be the realm to the reader.”

— Jeremy Young

A lot of people are writing poems and don't realize it. They have this limited idea of how the poem should sound or what…

— Matthea Harvey