--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I was at a benefit for some imprisoned…" description: "\"I was at a benefit for some imprisoned students in the '60s at San Francisco State, and there were lots of poets reading for the benefit: one was Eliza..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3d2/thom-gunn-15259_benefits_i-was-at-a-benefit-for-some-imprisoned-s_1024655.jpg" --- # I was at a benefit for some imprisoned students in the… ![“I was at a benefit for some imprisoned students in the '60s at San Francisco State, and there were lots of poets reading for the benefit: one was Elizabeth Bishop.” quote by Thom Gunn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3d2/thom-gunn-15259_benefits_i-was-at-a-benefit-for-some-imprisoned-s_1024655.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3d2/thom-gunn-15259_benefits_i-was-at-a-benefit-for-some-imprisoned-s_1024655.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3d2/thom-gunn-15259_benefits_i-was-at-a-benefit-for-some-imprisoned-s_1024655.jpg) > “I was at a benefit for some imprisoned students in the '60s at San Francisco State, and there were lots of poets reading for the benefit: one was Elizabeth Bishop.” [Thom Gunn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thom-gunn/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A poet’s presence highlighted the power of art to support marginalized voices during turbulent times. **In simple terms:** Poetry can amplify unheard stories. Key Takeaway Use art to advocate for justice. Themes activism art marginalization history Mood reflective inspirational Type historical activist When to use this quote - university events - social justice campaigns - historical retrospectives Key Concepts cultural expression solidarity Questions to Reflect On - How can poetry influence social change? - What responsibilities do artists have to oppressed groups? A Different Perspective May overlook other forms of activism. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bishops](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bishops/) [Poet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poet/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Reading](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reading/) [San francisco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/san-francisco/) [Students](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/students/) ## Related quotes > [I think I've always felt very isolated, and I'm sure lots of poets do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victoria-chang/i-think-i-ve-always-felt-very-isolated-and-i-m-sure-lots-of-poets-do/) [Victoria Chang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victoria-chang/) > [Imprisoned professors taught imprisoned students free theology.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-rgen-moltmann/imprisoned-professors-taught-imprisoned-students-free-theology/) [Jürgen Moltmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-rgen-moltmann/) > [“Elizabeth Bishop wrote love poems, and poems about lovemaking, and one of the best poems ever written in English about the loss of love,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/megan-marshall/elizabeth-bishop-wrote-love-poems-and-poems-about-lovemaking-and-one/) [Megan Marshall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/megan-marshall/) > [“WRITING POETRY IS an unnatural act,” Elizabeth Bishop”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/writing-poetry-is-an-unnatural-act-elizabeth-bishop/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Inherent in the ordination to be bishop is both the right and the obligation to be directed by inspiration.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/boyd-k-packer/inherent-in-the-ordination-to-be-bishop-is-both-the-right-and-the/) [Boyd K. Packer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/boyd-k-packer/) > [The future belongs to he who has the bishops.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/siegbert-tarrasch/the-future-belongs-to-he-who-has-the-bishops/) [Siegbert Tarrasch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/siegbert-tarrasch/) > [Archbishop Milingo is a good Bishop and his contention that there are satanists in Rome is completely correct. Anybody who is acquainted with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malachi-martin/archbishop-milingo-is-a-good-bishop-and-his-contention-that-there-are/) [Malachi Martin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malachi-martin/) > [Only a good bishop can be sacrificed, a bad bishop can only be lost.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yuri-razuvaev/only-a-good-bishop-can-be-sacrificed-a-bad-bishop-can-only-be-lost/) Yuri Razuvaev > [We want to create, never mind the leaders or the bishops or chief rabbis or imams, or Popes. We want to create a grassroots…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-armstrong/we-want-to-create-never-mind-the-leaders-or-the-bishops-or-chief/) [Karen Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-armstrong/) > [It was a blonde. A blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained-glass window.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-chandler/it-was-a-blonde-a-blonde-to-make-a-bishop-kick-a-hole-in-a-stained/) [Raymond Chandler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-chandler/) > [I don't see Jesus as rescuing the fallen; I see Jesus as expanding the potential of life. The primary reason the old idea of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-shelby-spong/i-don-t-see-jesus-as-rescuing-the-fallen-i-see-jesus-as-expanding-the/) [John Shelby Spong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-shelby-spong/) > [And the bigger the fall, the bigger the joke. It would be better fun to throw a custard pie at a bishop than at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/and-the-bigger-the-fall-the-bigger-the-joke-it-would-be-better-fun-to/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [The one thing that the Catholic Church desires, and that I seek as Bishop of Rome, “the Church which presides in charity”, is communion…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-francis/the-one-thing-that-the-catholic-church-desires-and-that-i-seek-as/) [Pope Francis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-francis/) > [My last two characters have been Denethor and Walter Bishop. Both will be hard acts to follow. That sits in the hands of my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-noble/my-last-two-characters-have-been-denethor-and-walter-bishop-both-will/) [John Noble](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-noble/) > [The good Bishop of Assisi expressed a sort of horror at the hard life which the Little Brothers lived at the Portiuncula, without comforts,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-good-bishop-of-assisi-expressed-a-sort-of-horror-at-the-hard-life/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) ## More by Thom Gunn > [How sociable the garden was. We ate and talked in given light. The children put their toys to grass All the warm wakeful August…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thom-gunn/how-sociable-the-garden-was-we-ate-and-talked-in-given-light-the/) [Thom Gunn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thom-gunn/) > [It was difficult being a teacher and out of the closet in the '50s. By the time I retired, the English department was proud…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thom-gunn/it-was-difficult-being-a-teacher-and-out-of-the-closet-in-the-50s-by/) [Thom Gunn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thom-gunn/) > [We tend to put poems into factions. And it restricts our reading.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thom-gunn/we-tend-to-put-poems-into-factions-and-it-restricts-our-reading/) [Thom Gunn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thom-gunn/) > [We control the content of our dreams.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thom-gunn/we-control-the-content-of-our-dreams/) [Thom Gunn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thom-gunn/) > [Deep feeling doesn't make for good poetry. A way with language would be a bit of help.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thom-gunn/deep-feeling-doesn-t-make-for-good-poetry-a-way-with-language-would/) [Thom Gunn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thom-gunn/) > [My old teacher's definition of poetry is an attempt to understand.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thom-gunn/my-old-teacher-s-definition-of-poetry-is-an-attempt-to-understand/) [Thom Gunn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thom-gunn/) > [I admired what my students were writing, but I think their improvement doesn't directly result from me but from being in a class, being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thom-gunn/i-admired-what-my-students-were-writing-but-i-think-their-improvement/) [Thom Gunn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thom-gunn/) > [One joins the movement in a valueless world, Choosing it, till both hurler and the hurled, One moves as well, always toward, toward.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thom-gunn/one-joins-the-movement-in-a-valueless-world-choosing-it-till-both/) [Thom Gunn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thom-gunn/) > [As humans we look at things and think about what we've looked at. We treasure it in a kind of private art gallery.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thom-gunn/as-humans-we-look-at-things-and-think-about-what-we-ve-looked-at-we/) [Thom Gunn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thom-gunn/) > [“At worse, one is in motion; and at best, Reaching no absolute, in which to rest, One is always nearer by not keeping still.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thom-gunn/at-worse-one-is-in-motion-and-at-best-reaching-no-absolute-in-which/) [Thom Gunn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thom-gunn/) > [There have been two popular subjects for poetry in the last few decades: the Vietnam War and AIDS, about both of which almost all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thom-gunn/there-have-been-two-popular-subjects-for-poetry-in-the-last-few/) [Thom Gunn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thom-gunn/) > [I deliberately wrote a poem in my last book where I was suggesting that there are other passions as great as or more important…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thom-gunn/i-deliberately-wrote-a-poem-in-my-last-book-where-i-was-suggesting/) [Thom Gunn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thom-gunn/) > [I was much influenced by Jean-Paul Sartre.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thom-gunn/i-was-much-influenced-by-jean-paul-sartre/) [Thom Gunn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thom-gunn/) > [I don't think of sex as a self-destructive impulse.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thom-gunn/i-don-t-think-of-sex-as-a-self-destructive-impulse/) [Thom Gunn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thom-gunn/) > [Ginsberg's Collected Poems contains a wonderful poem about making it with Neal Cassady.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thom-gunn/ginsberg-s-collected-poems-contains-a-wonderful-poem-about-making-it/) [Thom Gunn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thom-gunn/) [Explore all 43 Thom Gunn quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thom-gunn/) ## More Benefits quotes > [If the members of parliament no longer consider themselves mandatories of the taxpayers but deputies of those receiving salaries, wages, subsidies, doles, and other…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ludwig-von-mises/if-the-members-of-parliament-no-longer-consider-themselves/) [Ludwig von Mises](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ludwig-von-mises/) > [ \[The Dalai Lama\] told me some years ago, "I've made every concession to China, and I've been as open and tolerant as I could,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pico-iyer/the-dalai-lama-told-me-some-years-ago-i-ve-made-every-concession-to/) [Pico Iyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pico-iyer/) > [Anger is a rough water; if you can canalize it into a water mill, you can benefit from it. Anything bad can be transformed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mehmet-murat-ildan/anger-is-a-rough-water-if-you-can-canalize-it-into-a-water-mill-you/) [Mehmet Murat Ildan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mehmet-murat-ildan/) > [Shortly after I turned 50, both Ted Turner and the AARP came into my life. The only difference? With AARP, there were benefits.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-fonda/shortly-after-i-turned-50-both-ted-turner-and-the-aarp-came-into-my/) [Jane Fonda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-fonda/) > [That old man dies prematurely whose memory records no benefits conferred. They only have lived long who have lived virtuously.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-brinsley-sheridan/that-old-man-dies-prematurely-whose-memory-records-no-benefits/) [Richard Brinsley Sheridan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-brinsley-sheridan/) > [Politics is about power. It is about the power of the state. It is about the power of the state as applied to individuals,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-rudd/politics-is-about-power-it-is-about-the-power-of-the-state-it-is/) [Kevin Rudd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-rudd/) > [Therefore, I see whatever exists as good, death is to me like life, sin like holiness, wisdom like foolishness, everything has to be as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-hesse/therefore-i-see-whatever-exists-as-good-death-is-to-me-like-life-sin/) [Hermann Hesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-hesse/) > [Trust is about keeping commitments, but in many instances, circumstances change and organizations therefore shed commitments, things such as retiree medical benefits, pension obligations,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeffrey-pfeffer/trust-is-about-keeping-commitments-but-in-many-instances/) [Jeffrey Pfeffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeffrey-pfeffer/) > [Neither novels or their readers benefit from any attempts to divine whether any facts hide inside a story. Such efforts attack the very idea…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/neither-novels-or-their-readers-benefit-from-any-attempts-to-divine/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/let-us-think-of-education-as-the-means-of-developing-our-greatest/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [To really be of benefit to others as the Buddha always taught, we ourselves must first get out of the swamp. One of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tenzin-palmo/to-really-be-of-benefit-to-others-as-the-buddha-always-taught-we/) [Tenzin Palmo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tenzin-palmo/) > [I won the seat of Oxley largely on an issue that has resulted in me being called a racist. That issue related to my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pauline-hanson/i-won-the-seat-of-oxley-largely-on-an-issue-that-has-resulted-in-me/) [Pauline Hanson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pauline-hanson/) > [Intelligence is a separate gift, for the benefit of students, so that they may think of themselves as intellectual and not very intelligent, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/intelligence-is-a-separate-gift-for-the-benefit-of-students-so-that/) [Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/) > [I've always said that I benefit, as an actor, from not having the illusion of security.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hal-sparks/i-ve-always-said-that-i-benefit-as-an-actor-from-not-having-the/) [Hal Sparks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hal-sparks/) > [Benefits received are a delight to us as long as we think we can requite them; when that possibility is far exceeded, they are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tacitus/benefits-received-are-a-delight-to-us-as-long-as-we-think-we-can/) [Tacitus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tacitus/) Browse all 3,616 Benefits quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I was at a benefit for some imprisoned students in the '60s at San Francisco State, and there were lots of poets reading for the benefit: one was Elizabeth Bishop.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thom Gunn" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thom-gunn/i-was-at-a-benefit-for-some-imprisoned-students-in-the-60s-at-san/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Benefits" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thom-gunn/i-was-at-a-benefit-for-some-imprisoned-students-in-the-60s-at-san/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3d2/thom-gunn-15259_benefits_i-was-at-a-benefit-for-some-imprisoned-s_1024655.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3d2/thom-gunn-15259_benefits_i-was-at-a-benefit-for-some-imprisoned-s_1024655.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3d2/thom-gunn-15259_benefits_i-was-at-a-benefit-for-some-imprisoned-s_1024655.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I was at a benefit for some imprisoned students in the '60s at San Francisco State, and there were lots of…” — Thom Gunn", "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": "Thom Gunn", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thom-gunn/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "I was at a benefit for...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thom-gunn/i-was-at-a-benefit-for-some-imprisoned-students-in-the-60s-at-san/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thom-gunn/i-was-at-a-benefit-for-some-imprisoned-students-in-the-60s-at-san/#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 } } ] } ```