Art Quote by Joshua Clover

My feeling is that most political poetry is preaching to the choir, and that the people who are going to make the political changes…

— John Ashbery

I'm of the opinion that poetry is always political, and cannot help but be so, regardless of the poet's intent, given that refusing to…

— Andre Naffis-Sahely

“Poetry was a way to combat the staid and formulaic language of politicians that opposed the flexible and dynamic language of poets and writers.”

— Azar Nafisi

All poetry is political, to some degree.

— Mike Young

“Poetry is man’s rebellion against being what he is. (1879-1958)”

— James Branch Cabell

I've never read a political poem that's accomplished anything. Poetry makes things happen, but rarely what the poet wants.

— Howard Nemerov

Poetry is a lousy form of activism; it doesn't really change much. And maybe we can point to one or two historical times when…

— Daphne Gottlieb

Poetry is a political act because it involves telling the truth.

— June Jordan

Poets are political, they have to be reflections of their times [because] they're living in their times... Poetry is political in that it's standing…

— John Cusack

Poetry is my politics. It's an opportunity that gives me a way to speak.

— Eileen Myles

I've often said that all poetry is political. This is because real poems deal with a human response to reality and politics is part…

— Yehuda Amichai

If a poet would work politically, he must give himself up to a party; and so soon as he does that, he is lost…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe