--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Poetic success is when you write a poem…" description: "\"Poetic success is when you write a poem that makes you excited and bewildered and aglow.\" — Matthea Harvey" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4b7/matthea-harvey-10757_bewildered_poetic-success-is-when-you-write-a-poem_2264811.jpg" --- # Poetic success is when you write a poem that makes you… ![“Poetic success is when you write a poem that makes you excited and bewildered and aglow.” quote by Matthea Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4b7/matthea-harvey-10757_bewildered_poetic-success-is-when-you-write-a-poem_2264811.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4b7/matthea-harvey-10757_bewildered_poetic-success-is-when-you-write-a-poem_2264811.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4b7/matthea-harvey-10757_bewildered_poetic-success-is-when-you-write-a-poem_2264811.jpg) > “Poetic success is when you write a poem that makes you excited and bewildered and aglow.” [Matthea Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthea-harvey/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Poetic success is defined as creating a poem that excites, confuses, and illuminates the poet, producing a vivid emotional response. **In simple terms:** A good poem excites and amazes the writer. Key Takeaway Write poems that surprise and energize you. Themes creativity emotion literature Mood joyful confused awakened Type creative inspirational When to use this quote - workshop exercises - personal journaling - public readings - literary magazines Key Concepts epiphany aesthetic experience Questions to Reflect On - What poem recently left you both excited and bewildered? - How do you balance clarity with mystery in poetry? A Different Perspective Not all poems can achieve this intense reaction; some may be subtle. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bewildered](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bewildered/) [Inspirational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspirational/) [Poetic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetic/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Success](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/success/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [Success for me is to write what I think is a good song. When I'm pleased with it, that, for me, is a magical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-o-sullivan/success-for-me-is-to-write-what-i-think-is-a-good-song-when-i-m/) [Gilbert O'Sullivan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-o-sullivan/) > [The most valuable advice I can give is plan for your success. Write down your ideal goal, creating checkpoints for yourself along the way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilary-knight/the-most-valuable-advice-i-can-give-is-plan-for-your-success-write/) [Hilary Knight](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilary-knight/) > [“Make your heroes ambitious, always looking for more success and uniqueness. To write the best story you can, think of making your hero, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maryam-abdullah-alnaymi/make-your-heroes-ambitious-always-looking-for-more-success-and/) [Maryam Abdullah Alnaymi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maryam-abdullah-alnaymi/) > [Many performance poets seem to believe that yelling a poem makes it comprehensible. They are wrong.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilyn-nelson/many-performance-poets-seem-to-believe-that-yelling-a-poem-makes-it/) [Marilyn Nelson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilyn-nelson/) > [The figure a poem makes. It begins in delight and ends in wisdom.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-frost/the-figure-a-poem-makes-it-begins-in-delight-and-ends-in-wisdom/) [Robert Frost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-frost/) > [There's something immediate about the experience of reading a poem. It makes sense in my own mind, but I'm trying to figure out a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-powers/there-s-something-immediate-about-the-experience-of-reading-a-poem-it/) [Kevin Powers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-powers/) > [A poem makes clear without making simple. Poetry's language carries what lives outside language. It's as if you were given a 5-gallon bucket with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/a-poem-makes-clear-without-making-simple-poetry-s-language-carries/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) > [It should be of the pleasure of a poem itself to tell how it can. The figure a poem makes. It begins in delight…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-frost/it-should-be-of-the-pleasure-of-a-poem-itself-to-tell-how-it-can-the/) [Robert Frost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-frost/) > [“Isn’t it amazing, amazing, amazing that something so specific can be so resonant? These are the filaments, filaments, filaments from that Walt Whitman poem.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ze-frank/isn-t-it-amazing-amazing-amazing-that-something-so-specific-can-be-so/) [Ze Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ze-frank/) > [Again like Williams, with the emphasis now regrettable, when a man makes a poem, makes it mind you, he takes the words as he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-creeley/again-like-williams-with-the-emphasis-now-regrettable-when-a-man/) [Robert Creeley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-creeley/) > [“..the poem is made of sequences in which images, figures of speech and rhythm are undivided. One needs to enter this ‘undivision’", and what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-deguy/the-poem-is-made-of-sequences-in-which-images-figures-of-speech-and/) Michel Deguy > [“THE FIGURE A POEM MAKES No one can really hold that ecstasy should be static and stand still in one place. It begins in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-frost/the-figure-a-poem-makes-no-one-can-really-hold-that-ecstasy-should-be/) [Robert Frost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-frost/) > [When words become a poem, it makes sense to me, but I don't know how to explain to someone why the words are the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-kay/when-words-become-a-poem-it-makes-sense-to-me-but-i-don-t-know-how-to/) [Sarah Kay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-kay/) > [The figure a poem makes. It begins in delight and ends in wisdom... in a clarification of life - not necessarily a great clarification,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-frost/the-figure-a-poem-makes-it-begins-in-delight-and-ends-in-wisdom-in-a/) [Robert Frost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-frost/) > [When a man makes a poem, makes it, mind you, he takes words as he finds them interrelated about him and composes them -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-carlos-williams/when-a-man-makes-a-poem-makes-it-mind-you-he-takes-words-as-he-finds/) [William Carlos Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-carlos-williams/) ## More by Matthea Harvey > [I don't think that you can say by any stretch of the imagination that all Wisconsin or Brooklyn-based poets write in a particular way.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthea-harvey/i-don-t-think-that-you-can-say-by-any-stretch-of-the-imagination-that/) [Matthea Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthea-harvey/) > [Not everyone is going to like every carnival ride.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthea-harvey/not-everyone-is-going-to-like-every-carnival-ride/) [Matthea Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthea-harvey/) > [I think poetry involves heightened noticing or imagining as well as creating a certain made shape. On the other hand, that shape can be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthea-harvey/i-think-poetry-involves-heightened-noticing-or-imagining-as-well-as/) [Matthea Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthea-harvey/) > [When I get interested in a new topic I teach a class on it. There's a graduate seminar I teach in which the students…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthea-harvey/when-i-get-interested-in-a-new-topic-i-teach-a-class-on-it-there-s-a/) [Matthea Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthea-harvey/) > ["Confessional poetry" is another one of those labels. It goes in and out of fashion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthea-harvey/confessional-poetry-is-another-one-of-those-labels-it-goes-in-and-out/) [Matthea Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthea-harvey/) > [I don't think all poems need to be written in conversational language - those are often great poems but there should also be poems…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthea-harvey/i-don-t-think-all-poems-need-to-be-written-in-conversational-language/) [Matthea Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthea-harvey/) > [I let my narrative embroidering impulses take over in prose poems.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthea-harvey/i-let-my-narrative-embroidering-impulses-take-over-in-prose-poems/) [Matthea Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthea-harvey/) > [When I have my students do erasures, I'm always amazed by the way their voice comes through, whether they're doing an erasure of a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthea-harvey/when-i-have-my-students-do-erasures-i-m-always-amazed-by-the-way/) [Matthea Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthea-harvey/) > [Whether you're talking about political borders or aesthetic divisions (and clearly, the political ones have much more tragic consequences), it seems like once they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthea-harvey/whether-you-re-talking-about-political-borders-or-aesthetic-divisions/) [Matthea Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthea-harvey/) > [Usually form seems to find me in the process of writing a poem, though I have nothing against starting out with the form.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthea-harvey/usually-form-seems-to-find-me-in-the-process-of-writing-a-poem-though/) [Matthea Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthea-harvey/) > [I'm pretty lenient with myself about time - if I feel like taking photographs of small things inside ice cubes or making animal collages,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthea-harvey/i-m-pretty-lenient-with-myself-about-time-if-i-feel-like-taking/) [Matthea Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthea-harvey/) > [Recently, while I was in England, I saw a documentary on the BBC about the border between India and Pakistan at Wagah. When the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthea-harvey/recently-while-i-was-in-england-i-saw-a-documentary-on-the-bbc-about/) [Matthea Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthea-harvey/) > [A lot of people are writing poems and don't realize it. They have this limited idea of how the poem should sound or what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthea-harvey/a-lot-of-people-are-writing-poems-and-don-t-realize-it-they-have-this/) [Matthea Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthea-harvey/) > [I am pretty interested in hybrid forms. I love graphic novels and I think there should be more graphic poems in the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthea-harvey/i-am-pretty-interested-in-hybrid-forms-i-love-graphic-novels-and-i/) [Matthea Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthea-harvey/) > [I suppose it's useful in designating writing that tends to come from personal experience, work that delineates an "I," but it's a loose lasso,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthea-harvey/i-suppose-it-s-useful-in-designating-writing-that-tends-to-come-from/) [Matthea Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthea-harvey/) [Explore all 63 Matthea Harvey quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthea-harvey/) ## More Bewildered quotes > [We are puzzled and bewildered whenever we see suffering in this world because we have become accustomed to the mercy and the long-suffering of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-c-sproul/we-are-puzzled-and-bewildered-whenever-we-see-suffering-in-this-world/) [R. C. Sproul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-c-sproul/) > [Language gradually varies, and with it fade away the writings of authors who have flourished their allotted time; otherwise, the creative powers of genius…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/washington-irving/language-gradually-varies-and-with-it-fade-away-the-writings-of/) [Washington Irving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/washington-irving/) > [I've never been lost, but I've been a mite bewildered for a few days.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-boone/i-ve-never-been-lost-but-i-ve-been-a-mite-bewildered-for-a-few-days/) [Daniel Boone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-boone/) > [I admitted that I did not understand life. What I meant was that I am bewildered by human hearts and motivations, including my own.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-lock/i-admitted-that-i-did-not-understand-life-what-i-meant-was-that-i-am/) [Norman Lock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-lock/) > [She was the murderous mother who cut us to the bone but left us alive, left us naked and bewildered as wrinkled newborn babies,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesmyn-ward/she-was-the-murderous-mother-who-cut-us-to-the-bone-but-left-us-alive/) [Jesmyn Ward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesmyn-ward/) > [“I didn't particularly feel like explaining myself to eighteen bewildered people.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shannon-a-thompson/i-didn-t-particularly-feel-like-explaining-myself-to-eighteen/) [Shannon A. Thompson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shannon-a-thompson/) > [Thus I began my systematic though half-bewildered tour of Innsmouth's narrow, shadow-blighted ways. Crossing the bridge and turning toward the roar of the lower…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-p-lovecraft/thus-i-began-my-systematic-though-half-bewildered-tour-of-innsmouth-s/) [H. P. Lovecraft](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-p-lovecraft/) > [Bewitched, bothered and bewildered am I.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorenz-hart/bewitched-bothered-and-bewildered-am-i/) [Lorenz Hart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorenz-hart/) > [Guy Savelli's role in the War on Terror began when half-a-dozen strangers, within days of one another, contacted him via e-mail and telephone in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-ronson/guy-savelli-s-role-in-the-war-on-terror-began-when-half-a-dozen/) [Jon Ronson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jon-ronson/) > [Some people are attracted to sickness, to the kind of madness where sparks fly off the head, to the incoherence of despair, masked by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luke-davies/some-people-are-attracted-to-sickness-to-the-kind-of-madness-where/) [Luke Davies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luke-davies/) > [Why are we reading if not in hope that the writer will magnify and dramatize our days, will illuminate and inspire us with wisdom,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/why-are-we-reading-if-not-in-hope-that-the-writer-will-magnify-and/) [Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) > [Sometimes tears roll down from our eyes not because we wanted to but because when our words can't explain the pain we feel then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/usman-ismaheel/sometimes-tears-roll-down-from-our-eyes-not-because-we-wanted-to-but/) [Usman Ismaheel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/usman-ismaheel/) > [“What this have we done?” asked Stanislaw in very bad English, honestly bewildered. “Curfew?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-brazytis/what-this-have-we-done-asked-stanislaw-in-very-bad-english-honestly/) [Sarah Brazytis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-brazytis/) > [I am bewildered at the length to which people will go to portray me so negatively,](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-jackson/i-am-bewildered-at-the-length-to-which-people-will-go-to-portray-me/) [Michael Jackson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-jackson/) > [I was sad to leave Europe in 1890, after my student days in Germany... But then, once back in New York, I experienced an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-stieglitz/i-was-sad-to-leave-europe-in-1890-after-my-student-days-in-germany/) [Alfred Stieglitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-stieglitz/) [Browse all 141 Bewildered quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bewildered/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Poetic success is when you write a poem that makes you excited and bewildered and aglow.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Matthea Harvey" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthea-harvey/poetic-success-is-when-you-write-a-poem-that-makes-you-excited-and/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Bewildered" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthea-harvey/poetic-success-is-when-you-write-a-poem-that-makes-you-excited-and/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4b7/matthea-harvey-10757_bewildered_poetic-success-is-when-you-write-a-poem_2264811.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4b7/matthea-harvey-10757_bewildered_poetic-success-is-when-you-write-a-poem_2264811.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4b7/matthea-harvey-10757_bewildered_poetic-success-is-when-you-write-a-poem_2264811.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Poetic success is when you write a poem that makes you excited and bewildered and aglow.” — Matthea Harvey", "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": "Matthea Harvey", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthea-harvey/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Poetic success is when you write...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthea-harvey/poetic-success-is-when-you-write-a-poem-that-makes-you-excited-and/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthea-harvey/poetic-success-is-when-you-write-a-poem-that-makes-you-excited-and/#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 } } ] } ```