Able Quote by Oscar Wilde

“I always get a little bit irritated when people talk about 'bringing poetry to the people' especially those poet - performers who seem to…

— Michael Donaghy

For an American, there's no automatic place where people love the art of poetry. There's not a social class that considers poetry its property…

— Robert Pinsky

In America they make too much fuss of poets; in London they make too little.

— Caitlin Thomas

When people decide to talk publicly about poetry as an art form and how it's received, they often get very abject about it: "Nobody…

— Eileen Myles

Poetry can explain individuals to ourselves, and change our attitudes, and help us see the complexity of the world, but the kind of poetry…

— Stephen Burt

By definition, poetry works with qualities and dynamics that mainstream society is reluctant to face head-on. It's an interesting phenomenon that by necessity, poetry…

— David Whyte

Most Americans do not like poetry. We may respect it, but we do not enjoy it.

— Gilbert Highet

In England especially, poetry's woven into the background fabric of society. And in Ireland, it's in the foreground. The place of the poet in…

— David Whyte

Poetry is often very critical of the culture from which it emerges. Quite often literary critics of a nationalist bent talk up the national…

— Edna Longley

An English poet writes, I think, just for people who are interested in poetry. An American poet writes, and feels that everyone ought to…

— Stephen Spender

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

It is always better to write for the whole of society than for the poetry-reading public.

— Tony Harrison