Any Quote by James Fenton

Among those today who believe that modern poetry must do without rhyme or metre, there is an assumption that the alternative to free verse…

— James Fenton

When we study Shakespeare on the page, for academic purposes, we may require all kinds of help. Generally, we read him in modern spelling…

— James Fenton

There is no objection to the proposal: in order to learn to be a poet, I shall try to write a sonnet. But the…

— James Fenton

Poetry carries its history within it, and it is oral in origin. Its transmission was oral. Its transmission today is still in part oral,…

— James Fenton

A glance at the history of European poetry is enough to inform us that rhyme itself is not indispensable. Latin poetry in the classical…

— James Fenton

In song the same rule applies as in dramatic verse: the meaning must yield itself, or yield itself sufficiently to arouse the attention and…

— James Fenton

Great poetry does not have to be technically intricate.

— James Fenton

'Love' is so short of perfect rhymes that convention allows half-rhymes like 'move.' The alternative is a plague of doves, or a kind of…

— James Fenton

Lyric poetry is, of course, musical in origin. I do know that what happened to poetry in the twentieth century was that it began…

— James Fenton

At somewhere around 10 syllables, the English poetic line is at its most relaxed and manageable.

— James Fenton

In rap, as in most popular lyrics, a very low standard is set for rhyme; but this was not always the case with popular…

— James Fenton

The Italian word 'stanza' means 'a room', and a room is a good way to conceive of a stanza. A room, generally speaking, is…

— James Fenton