Poetry Quote by John McWhorter

Twentieth-century American poetry has been one of the glories of modern literature.

— Helen Vendler

What happened to poetry in the twentieth century was that it began to be written for the page.

— James Fenton

“The way contemporary literature is emerging, soon we can expect "Item poetry" in novels.”

— Himmilicious

“How much of twentieth-century poetry, how much of my own poetry, is the cry of the damned?”

— Christian Wiman

Poetry has always been made to seem kind of cultish. But the truth is, everybody really loves it! It's much more mainstream than anyone…

— Maria Shriver

“Real poetry is art at its purest sense. It is never a commodity, but a breath of eternity.”

— Subhan Zein

“I was born into the century in which novels lost their stories, poems their rhymes, paintings their form, and music its beauty, but that…

— Pat Conroy

“For all but the sliver of poetry fans, over the past forty years popular song lyrics have been the nation’s poetry.”

— John McWhorter

Poetry is a comforting piece of fiction set to more or less lascivious music.

— H. L. Mencken

“Contemporary poets got so obscure that poetry kind of fell out of favor,”

— Paul Ruffin

“I dislike a great deal of contemporary poetry — all of the past you read is usually quite great — but it is a…

— Frank O'Hara

“Poetry is again hip in America as people are beginning to refuse to die of boredom and to choke in the fog of their…

— Andrei Codrescu