--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The experimental poetry thing is not my…" description: "\"The experimental poetry thing is not my thing. It's a programme of the avant-garde: basically a refusal of the kind of poetry I write.\" — Seamus Heaney" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d5b/seamus-heaney-1711_avant-garde_the-experimental-poetry-thing-is-not-my_348159.png" --- # The experimental poetry thing is not my thing. It's a… ![“The experimental poetry thing is not my thing. It's a programme of the avant-garde: basically a refusal of the kind of poetry I write.” quote by Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d5b/seamus-heaney-1711_avant-garde_the-experimental-poetry-thing-is-not-my_348159.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d5b/seamus-heaney-1711_avant-garde_the-experimental-poetry-thing-is-not-my_348159.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d5b/seamus-heaney-1711_avant-garde_the-experimental-poetry-thing-is-not-my_348159.png) > “The experimental poetry thing is not my thing. It's a programme of the avant-garde: basically a refusal of the kind of poetry I write.” [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Heaney distances himself from avant‑garde poetry, preferring his own style over experimental forms. **In simple terms:** He prefers his own poetry over avant‑garde. Key Takeaway Stay true to your personal voice. Themes authenticity artistic integrity tradition Mood contemplative thoughtful Type literary personal When to use this quote - writing workshops - literary criticism - personal journals - publishing decisions Key Concepts poetic form creative choice Questions to Reflect On - Do you ever experiment within your own style? - How do you define your poetic boundaries? A Different Perspective Experimental work can alienate audiences and limit accessibility. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Avant garde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/avant-garde/) [Basically](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/basically/) [Basically Refusal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/basically-refusal-3220516/) [Experimental](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/experimental/) [Experimental Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/experimental-poetry-1989608/) [I write](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/i-write/) [Kind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/kind/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Poetry Thing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry-thing-573650/) [Programme](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/programme/) [Programming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/programming/) [Refusal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/refusal/) [Refusal Kind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/refusal-kind-3220515/) [Thing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thing/) [Write](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/write/) ## Related quotes > [All poetry is experimental poetry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/all-poetry-is-experimental-poetry/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [Palestinian society is filled with poetry, but not experimental poetry. The Palestinian poetry that people know is not the modernist experimentations, it's certain kinds…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-colla/palestinian-society-is-filled-with-poetry-but-not-experimental-poetry/) [Elliott Colla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-colla/) > [Poetry is not the thing said, but the way of saying it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-e-housman/poetry-is-not-the-thing-said-but-the-way-of-saying-it/) [A. E. Housman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-e-housman/) > [Poetry's a thing that belongs to everyone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natasha-trethewey/poetry-s-a-thing-that-belongs-to-everyone/) [Natasha Trethewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natasha-trethewey/) > [I was doing a poetry thing in Tottenham and I remember walking down this road looking for the address, the pub where it was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-key/i-was-doing-a-poetry-thing-in-tottenham-and-i-remember-walking-down/) [Tim Key](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-key/) > [Poetry is the one thing that isn't contaminated, the one thing that isn't part of the game.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roberto-bola-o/poetry-is-the-one-thing-that-isn-t-contaminated-the-one-thing-that/) [Roberto Bolaño](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roberto-bola-o/) > [The world needs poetry now more than ever. It's the only thing that can keep music from copying itself and sounding the same.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lana-del-rey/the-world-needs-poetry-now-more-than-ever-it-s-the-only-thing-that/) [Lana Del Rey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lana-del-rey/) > [“Aimlessly It pounds the shore. White and aimless signals. No One listens to poetry. — from "Thing Language”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-spicer/aimlessly-it-pounds-the-shore-white-and-aimless-signals-no-one/) [Jack Spicer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-spicer/) > [I realized poetry's the thing that I can do 'cause I can stick at it and work with tremendous intensity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-levine/i-realized-poetry-s-the-thing-that-i-can-do-cause-i-can-stick-at-it/) [Philip Levine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-levine/) > [Poetry is itself a thing of God; He made his prophets poets; and the more We feel of poesie do we become Like God…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-james-bailey/poetry-is-itself-a-thing-of-god-he-made-his-prophets-poets-and-the/) [Philip James Bailey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-james-bailey/) > [“Stop. Watch. Listen. There’s poetry all over. And the thing about poetry? It don’t write itself.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bethany-house-publishers/stop-watch-listen-there-s-poetry-all-over-and-the-thing-about-poetry/) [Bethany House Publishers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bethany-house-publishers/) > [The next humans to walk on the moon may be Chinese. Only China seems to have the resources, the dirigiste government, and the willingness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-rees/the-next-humans-to-walk-on-the-moon-may-be-chinese-only-china-seems/) [Martin Rees](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-rees/) > [When you look at our programme for the next few weeks, you do not fancy a trip to the Oktoberfest.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-kahn/when-you-look-at-our-programme-for-the-next-few-weeks-you-do-not/) [Oliver Kahn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-kahn/) > [Well, if you look at the programme that we're offering, I think that is a future which is fair for women as well as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-harman/well-if-you-look-at-the-programme-that-we-re-offering-i-think-that-is/) [Harriet Harman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-harman/) > [I was for many years myself a journalist and it is not appropriate to say a programme should not be broadcast.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-monckton/i-was-for-many-years-myself-a-journalist-and-it-is-not-appropriate-to/) [Christopher Monckton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-monckton/) ## More by Seamus Heaney > [You had to come back to learn how to lose yourself, to be pilot and stray-witch, Hansel and Gretel in one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/you-had-to-come-back-to-learn-how-to-lose-yourself-to-be-pilot-and/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [If self is a location, so is love: Bearings taken, markings, cardinal points, Options, obstinacies, dug heels, and distance, Here and there and now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/if-self-is-a-location-so-is-love-bearings-taken-markings-cardinal/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [I'm very conscious that people dear to me are alive in my imagination - poets in particular.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/i-m-very-conscious-that-people-dear-to-me-are-alive-in-my-imagination/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [Once I was on the job, once I had got started, I felt safe enough, but the anticipation made me tense.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/once-i-was-on-the-job-once-i-had-got-started-i-felt-safe-enough-but/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [You can have Irish identity in the north and also have your Irish passport.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/you-can-have-irish-identity-in-the-north-and-also-have-your-irish/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [The external reality and inner dynamic of happenings in Northern Ireland between 1968 and 1974 were symptomatic of change, violent change admittedly, but change…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/the-external-reality-and-inner-dynamic-of-happenings-in-northern/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [Hope for a great sea-change timid to rebuke and too petty to forgive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/hope-for-a-great-sea-change-timid-to-rebuke-and-too-petty-to-forgive/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [One of the very first poems I wrote was Docker That fist would drop a hammer on a Catholic and one of the sturdiest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/one-of-the-very-first-poems-i-wrote-was-docker-that-fist-would-drop-a/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [Anything Can Happen is also, incidentally, a poem that arose from teaching. I'd talked about the Horace Ode (I, 34) \[on which the poem…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/anything-can-happen-is-also-incidentally-a-poem-that-arose-from/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [Poetry is always slightly mysterious, and you wonder what is your relationship to it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/poetry-is-always-slightly-mysterious-and-you-wonder-what-is-your/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [Sink every impulse like a bolt. Secure The bastion of sensation. Do not waver Into language. Do not waver in it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/sink-every-impulse-like-a-bolt-secure-the-bastion-of-sensation-do-not/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [Two buckets were easier carried than one. / I grew up in between.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/two-buckets-were-easier-carried-than-one-i-grew-up-in-between/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [I suppose I'm saying that defiance is actually part of the lyric job](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/i-suppose-i-m-saying-that-defiance-is-actually-part-of-the-lyric-job/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [“It is said that once upon a time St. Kevin was kneeling with his arms stretched out in the form of a cross in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/it-is-said-that-once-upon-a-time-st-kevin-was-kneeling-with-his-arms/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [My father and mother had no sense of entitlement for their children.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/my-father-and-mother-had-no-sense-of-entitlement-for-their-children/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) [Explore all 214 Seamus Heaney quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) ## More Avant garde quotes > [I am not the avant-garde. I am the artist who comes after the advancing guard. I am more concerned with continuity of ideas and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathan-oliveira/i-am-not-the-avant-garde-i-am-the-artist-who-comes-after-the/) [Nathan Oliveira](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathan-oliveira/) > [Well, the reason that I teach at Bard is because it's a largely avant-garde program.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kelly-reichardt/well-the-reason-that-i-teach-at-bard-is-because-it-s-a-largely-avant/) [Kelly Reichardt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kelly-reichardt/) > [Noise has taken the place of punk rock. People who play noise have no real aspirations to being part of the mainstream culture. Punk…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thurston-moore/noise-has-taken-the-place-of-punk-rock-people-who-play-noise-have-no/) [Thurston Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thurston-moore/) > [I am, it seems, an avant-garde dramatist. It would even seem obvious since I am present here at discussions on the avant-garde theatre. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eug-ne-ionesco/i-am-it-seems-an-avant-garde-dramatist-it-would-even-seem-obvious/) [Eugene Ionesco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eug-ne-ionesco/) > [There is a book called San Francisco Tape Music Centre:1960s Counterculture and the Avant-Garde and this book describes everything that you want to know…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pauline-oliveros/there-is-a-book-called-san-francisco-tape-music-centre-1960s/) [Pauline Oliveros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pauline-oliveros/) > [Once you got Hollywood doing these kinds of movies and having all the, how you say, the tools to do it, and also to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/violante-placido/once-you-got-hollywood-doing-these-kinds-of-movies-and-having-all-the/) [Violante Placido](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/violante-placido/) > [On the surface the avant garde as a whole seems united primarily in terms of what they are against: the rejection of social institutions…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-d-innes/on-the-surface-the-avant-garde-as-a-whole-seems-united-primarily-in/) [C. D. Innes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-d-innes/) > [ Avant-garde theatre, with its distrust of the individual (that bourgeois invention), tends to go beyond \[character\] and the psychological approach in search of a… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrice-pavis/avant-garde-theatre-with-its-distrust-of-the-individual-that/) [Patrice Pavis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrice-pavis/) > [“There is nothing more profitable than the extreme avant garde.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/silvia-hartmann/there-is-nothing-more-profitable-than-the-extreme-avant-garde/) [Silvia Hartmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/silvia-hartmann/) > [Avant-garde means never having to say you're sorry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marc-ribot/avant-garde-means-never-having-to-say-you-re-sorry/) [Marc Ribot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marc-ribot/) > [“My avant garde planters complete, they now yearned to be occupied.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-puchalski/my-avant-garde-planters-complete-they-now-yearned-to-be-occupied/) [Matt Puchalski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-puchalski/) > [Now there is no taboo; everything is allowed. But one cannot simply go back to tonality, it’s not the way. We must find a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gyorgy-ligeti/now-there-is-no-taboo-everything-is-allowed-but-one-cannot-simply-go/) [Gyorgy Ligeti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gyorgy-ligeti/) > [In an avant-garde cooking restaurant, it's the experience that's the difference.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ferran-adria/in-an-avant-garde-cooking-restaurant-it-s-the-experience-that-s-the/) [Ferran Adria](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ferran-adria/) > [The avant-garde poet or artist tries in effect to imitate God by creating something valid solely on its own terms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clement-greenberg/the-avant-garde-poet-or-artist-tries-in-effect-to-imitate-god-by/) [Clement Greenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clement-greenberg/) > [I like African and avant-garde music, anything that's vaguely interesting. Hard rock I get a bit bored with because it's what I do. So…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-glover/i-like-african-and-avant-garde-music-anything-that-s-vaguely/) [Roger Glover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-glover/) [Browse all 202 Avant garde quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/avant-garde/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The experimental poetry thing is not my thing. It's a programme of the avant-garde: basically a refusal of the kind of poetry I write.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Seamus Heaney" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/the-experimental-poetry-thing-is-not-my-thing-it-s-a-programme-of-the/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Avant garde" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/the-experimental-poetry-thing-is-not-my-thing-it-s-a-programme-of-the/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d5b/seamus-heaney-1711_avant-garde_the-experimental-poetry-thing-is-not-my_348159.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d5b/seamus-heaney-1711_avant-garde_the-experimental-poetry-thing-is-not-my_348159.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d5b/seamus-heaney-1711_avant-garde_the-experimental-poetry-thing-is-not-my_348159.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The experimental poetry thing is not my thing. It's a programme of the avant-garde: basically a refusal of…” — Seamus Heaney", "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": "Seamus Heaney", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The experimental poetry thing is not...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/the-experimental-poetry-thing-is-not-my-thing-it-s-a-programme-of-the/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/the-experimental-poetry-thing-is-not-my-thing-it-s-a-programme-of-the/#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 } } ] } ```