---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Poetry, that is to say the poetic, is a…"
description: "\"Poetry, that is to say the poetic, is a primal necessity.\" — Marianne Moore"
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/52f/marianne-moore-3315_poetic_poetry-that-is-to-say-the-poetic-is-a-pr_3091756.png"
---

#  Poetry, that is to say the poetic, is a primal necessity.

![“Poetry, that is to say the poetic, is a primal necessity.” quote by Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/52f/marianne-moore-3315_poetic_poetry-that-is-to-say-the-poetic-is-a-pr_3091756.png)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/52f/marianne-moore-3315_poetic_poetry-that-is-to-say-the-poetic-is-a-pr_3091756.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/52f/marianne-moore-3315_poetic_poetry-that-is-to-say-the-poetic-is-a-pr_3091756.png)

> “Poetry, that is to say the poetic, is a primal necessity.”

[Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Poetry is an essential, instinctive expression of humanity.

**In simple terms:** Poetry is a basic human need.

Key Takeaway

Value poetic expression in daily life.

Themes

creativity necessity art human nature

Mood

reflective inspired

Type

literary philosophical

When to use this quote

- education curricula
- mental health therapy
- community workshops
- media criticism

Key Concepts

aesthetic theory psychology cultural studies

Questions to Reflect On

- Why do people resist poetic forms?
- How does poetry meet emotional needs?

A Different Perspective

Poetry may be undervalued in utilitarian cultures.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Poetic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetic/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/)

## Related quotes

> [Poetry is one of the destinies of speech... One would say that the poetic image, in its newness, opens a future to language.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gaston-bachelard/poetry-is-one-of-the-destinies-of-speech-one-would-say-that-the/)

[Gaston Bachelard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gaston-bachelard/)

> [If you want a definition of poetry, say: Poetry is what makes me laugh or cry or yawn, what makes my toenails twinkle, what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dylan-thomas/if-you-want-a-definition-of-poetry-say-poetry-is-what-makes-me-laugh/)

[Dylan Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dylan-thomas/)

> [one reason why I like writing poetry - you can say so many things in it that are true in poetry but wouldn't be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lucy-maud-montgomery/one-reason-why-i-like-writing-poetry-you-can-say-so-many-things-in-it/)

[Lucy Maud Montgomery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lucy-maud-montgomery/)

> [ “Happy the man...with a natural gift for practising the right one \[art\] from the start-- poetry, say, or fishing; whose nights are dreamless; whose… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/happy-the-man-with-a-natural-gift-for-practising-the-right-one-art/)

[Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/)

> [“They say: I love you. But in poetry, I say: In your soul, I see a moonrise in the dark nights of my life.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jayita-bhattacharjee/they-say-i-love-you-but-in-poetry-i-say-in-your-soul-i-see-a-moonrise/)

[Jayita Bhattacharjee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jayita-bhattacharjee/)

> [“I started seeing poetry from a strictly consumerist perspective as poets serving up beverages. Most, maybe like 97 percent or something, serve lemonade. You…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martinus-hendrikus-benders/i-started-seeing-poetry-from-a-strictly-consumerist-perspective-as/)

[Martinus Hendrikus Benders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martinus-hendrikus-benders/)

> [“They say: I love you. But in poetry, I say: In hour soul, I see a moon in the dark nights of my life.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jayita-bhattacharjee/they-say-i-love-you-but-in-poetry-i-say-in-hour-soul-i-see-a-moon-in/)

[Jayita Bhattacharjee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jayita-bhattacharjee/)

> [Sometimes only poetry can say it. I think there's just this deeper language, and away of putting your world back together again and breaking…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-nyro/sometimes-only-poetry-can-say-it-i-think-there-s-just-this-deeper/)

[Laura Nyro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-nyro/)

> [Because people are very interested in my poetry, in what I say.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/compay-segundo/because-people-are-very-interested-in-my-poetry-in-what-i-say/)

[Compay Segundo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/compay-segundo/)

> [“But is this not what poetry must do? To say the nothing that cannot be said?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-crowley/but-is-this-not-what-poetry-must-do-to-say-the-nothing-that-cannot-be/)

[John Crowley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-crowley/)

> [“he shewed himself so intimately acquainted with all the tenderest songs of the one poet, and all the impassioned descriptions of hopeless agony of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/he-shewed-himself-so-intimately-acquainted-with-all-the-tenderest/)

[Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/)

> [There is nothing at all that can be talked about adequately, and the whole art of poetry is to say what can't be said.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/there-is-nothing-at-all-that-can-be-talked-about-adequately-and-the/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [“She ventured to hope he did not always read only poetry; and to say, that she thought it was the misfortune of poetry, to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/she-ventured-to-hope-he-did-not-always-read-only-poetry-and-to-say/)

[Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/)

> [“As human beings we’ve certainly suffered the loss of awe, the loss of sacredness, and the loss of the fact that we’re not here—…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-walcott/as-human-beings-we-ve-certainly-suffered-the-loss-of-awe-the-loss-of/)

[Derek Walcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-walcott/)

> [When forced to survive in an apocalyptic world, there are some characters that embrace their higher selves with some emerging as natural born leaders,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurie-holden/when-forced-to-survive-in-an-apocalyptic-world-there-are-some/)

[Laurie Holden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurie-holden/)

## More by Marianne Moore

> [When one is frank, one's very presence is a compliment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/when-one-is-frank-one-s-very-presence-is-a-compliment/)

[Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/)

> [One writes because one has a burning desire to objectify what it is indispensable to one's happiness to express.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/one-writes-because-one-has-a-burning-desire-to-objectify-what-it-is/)

[Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/)

> [Victory won't come to me unless I go to it; a grape tendril ties a knot in knots till knotted thirty times](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/victory-won-t-come-to-me-unless-i-go-to-it-a-grape-tendril-ties-a/)

[Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/)

> [The deepest feeling always shows itself in silence; not in silence, but restraint.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/the-deepest-feeling-always-shows-itself-in-silence-not-in-silence-but/)

[Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/)

> [“Do the poet and scientist not work analogously? Both are willing to waste effort. To be hard on himself is one ...of the main…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/do-the-poet-and-scientist-not-work-analogously-both-are-willing-to/)

[Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/)

> [Camels are snobbish and sheep, unintelligent; water buffaloes, neurasthenic-- even murderous. Reindeer seem over-serious.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/camels-are-snobbish-and-sheep-unintelligent-water-buffaloes/)

[Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/)

> [When one cannot appraise out of one's own experience, the temptation to blunder is minimized, but even when one can, appraisal seems chiefly useful…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/when-one-cannot-appraise-out-of-one-s-own-experience-the-temptation/)

[Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/)

> [The hands are the heart's messengers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/the-hands-are-the-heart-s-messengers/)

[Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/)

> [I believe verbal felicity is the fruit of ardor, of diligence, and of refusing to be false.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/i-believe-verbal-felicity-is-the-fruit-of-ardor-of-diligence-and-of/)

[Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/)

> [Conscious writing can be the death of poetry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/conscious-writing-can-be-the-death-of-poetry/)

[Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/)

> [Only imagination that towers can reproduce evanescence and render rigidity flexible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/only-imagination-that-towers-can-reproduce-evanescence-and-render/)

[Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/)

> [Revision is its own reward.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/revision-is-its-own-reward/)

[Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/)

> [In a poem the excitement has to maintain itself. I am governed by the pull of the sentence as the pull of a fabric…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/in-a-poem-the-excitement-has-to-maintain-itself-i-am-governed-by-the/)

[Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/)

> [All are / naked, none is safe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/all-are-naked-none-is-safe/)

[Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/)

> [It is human nature to stand in the middle of a thing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/it-is-human-nature-to-stand-in-the-middle-of-a-thing/)

[Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/)

[Explore all 134 Marianne Moore quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/)

## More Poetic quotes

> [One of the deepest and strangest of all human moods is the mood which will suddenly strike us perhaps in a garden at night,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/one-of-the-deepest-and-strangest-of-all-human-moods-is-the-mood-which/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [Jazz is not something that can be defined through blunt instruments. It is much more poetic than that.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pat-metheny/jazz-is-not-something-that-can-be-defined-through-blunt-instruments/)

[Pat Metheny](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pat-metheny/)

> [Generous in spirit, richly poetic, and packed with memorable characters.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lawrence-millman/generous-in-spirit-richly-poetic-and-packed-with-memorable-characters/)

[Lawrence Millman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lawrence-millman/)

> [“There was a strange exciting smell in the air - the smell of wine, cigar smoke, and perfume, mingled with the scent of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/there-was-a-strange-exciting-smell-in-the-air-the-smell-of-wine-cigar/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [As to London we must console ourselves with the thought that if life outside is less poetic than it was in the days of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/goldwin-smith/as-to-london-we-must-console-ourselves-with-the-thought-that-if-life/)

[Goldwin Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/goldwin-smith/)

> [Woody Allen is a genius. His films are wonderful. He's poetic, but he's also a critic. He artfully steps back from a social setting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mel-brooks/woody-allen-is-a-genius-his-films-are-wonderful-he-s-poetic-but-he-s/)

[Mel Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mel-brooks/)

> [I'm saying that the domain of poetry includes both oral & written forms, that poetry goes back to a pre-literate situation & would survive…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerome-rothenberg/i-m-saying-that-the-domain-of-poetry-includes-both-oral-written-forms/)

Jerome Rothenberg

> [“The Estate of Solemnity By right, it reigns in its places- in long beards Of spanish moss hanging from a live oak On a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pattiann-rogers/the-estate-of-solemnity-by-right-it-reigns-in-its-places-in-long/)

[Pattiann Rogers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pattiann-rogers/)

> [Suddenly the full long wail of a ship's horn surged through the open window and flooded the dim room - a cry of boundless,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yukio-mishima/suddenly-the-full-long-wail-of-a-ship-s-horn-surged-through-the-open/)

[Yukio Mishima](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yukio-mishima/)

> [“When it has finished saying it, it no longer is. The longer it is in saying it, the more it can say it at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-ponge/when-it-has-finished-saying-it-it-no-longer-is-the-longer-it-is-in/)

Francis Ponge

> [“Ere morning the storm had passed; and day broke through a cloudless east. Even if the sleeve of Aoyagi hid from her lover's eyes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lafcadio-hearn/ere-morning-the-storm-had-passed-and-day-broke-through-a-cloudless/)

[Lafcadio Hearn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lafcadio-hearn/)

> [Oh for a seat in some poetic nook, Just hid with trees and sparkling with a brook!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leigh-hunt/oh-for-a-seat-in-some-poetic-nook-just-hid-with-trees-and-sparkling/)

[Leigh Hunt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leigh-hunt/)

> [My subject matter was a genuine sort of experience that came out of my life, particularly the American world in which I was privileged…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wayne-thiebaud/my-subject-matter-was-a-genuine-sort-of-experience-that-came-out-of/)

[Wayne Thiebaud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wayne-thiebaud/)

> [There are certain pursuits which, if not wholly poetic and true, do at least suggest a nobler and finer relation to nature than we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/there-are-certain-pursuits-which-if-not-wholly-poetic-and-true-do-at/)

[Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/)

> [Here undoubtedly lies the chief poetic energy: - in the force of imagination that pierces or exalts the solid fact, instead of floating among…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/here-undoubtedly-lies-the-chief-poetic-energy-in-the-force-of/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

[Browse all 847 Poetic quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetic/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "Poetry, that is to say the poetic, is a primal necessity.",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Marianne Moore"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/poetry-that-is-to-say-the-poetic-is-a-primal-necessity/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Poetic"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/poetry-that-is-to-say-the-poetic-is-a-primal-necessity/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/52f/marianne-moore-3315_poetic_poetry-that-is-to-say-the-poetic-is-a-pr_3091756.png",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/52f/marianne-moore-3315_poetic_poetry-that-is-to-say-the-poetic-is-a-pr_3091756.png",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/52f/marianne-moore-3315_poetic_poetry-that-is-to-say-the-poetic-is-a-pr_3091756.png",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“Poetry, that is to say the poetic, is a primal necessity.” — Marianne Moore",
                "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                "creator": {
                    "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                }
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Marianne Moore",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "Poetry, that is to say the...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/poetry-that-is-to-say-the-poetic-is-a-primal-necessity/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/poetry-that-is-to-say-the-poetic-is-a-primal-necessity/#breadcrumb"
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```