Amusement Quote by John Masefield

Even if great poetry continues to be written, it has retreated from the center of literary life. Though supported by a loyal coterie, poetry…

— Dana Gioia

And yet, in a culture like ours, which is given to material comforts, and addicted to forms of entertainment that offer immediate gratification, it…

— Mark Strand

Poetry cannot afford to lose its fundamentally self-delighting inventiveness, its joy in being a process of language as well as a representation of things…

— Seamus Heaney

What I search for continuously in my art is adequate language, language I hope can stand beyond any particular occasion. What I'm finding is…

— Adrienne Rich

I hope that the feeling of making poetry is not confined to the people who write it down. There is no luxury like it,…

— Stella Benson

The world needs poetry now more than ever. It's the only thing that can keep music from copying itself and sounding the same.

— Lana Del Rey

People should be stopped from writing poetry. There's far too much of it. And if they're any good, they'll go ahead anyways.

— Clive James

Poetry and fiction have grieved for a century now over the loss of some vitality which they think they see in a past from…

— Guy Davenport

Poetry is fascinating. As soon as it begins the poetry has changed the thing into something extra, and somehow prose can go over into…

— Michael Tippett

On our earth, before writing was invented, before the printing press was invented, poetry flourished. That is why we know that poetry is like…

— Pablo Neruda

I believe the best poetry of our times is growing too artistic; the study is too visible. If freedom and naturalness are lost out…

— Lucy Larcom

It may very well be that we have entered another time when most poets will feel compelled to use poetry to stop things from…

— Matthew Zapruder