--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Poetry is a satifying of the desire for…" description: "\"Poetry is a satifying of the desire for resemblance.\" — Wallace Stevens" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/141/wallace-stevens-846_art_poetry-is-a-satifying-of-the-desire-for_1096630.jpg" --- # Poetry is a satifying of the desire for resemblance. ![“Poetry is a satifying of the desire for resemblance.” quote by Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/141/wallace-stevens-846_art_poetry-is-a-satifying-of-the-desire-for_1096630.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/141/wallace-stevens-846_art_poetry-is-a-satifying-of-the-desire-for_1096630.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/141/wallace-stevens-846_art_poetry-is-a-satifying-of-the-desire-for_1096630.jpg) > “Poetry is a satifying of the desire for resemblance.” [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Poetry satisfies the human urge to find similarity between experience and expression. **In simple terms:** Poetry mirrors our desire for resemblance. Key Takeaway Use poetry to explore shared human experiences. Themes art expression resemblance creativity language Mood introspective inspirational Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - writing workshops - literary analysis - therapy - education Key Concepts aesthetic resonance symbolic mirroring human universals Questions to Reflect On - What does resemblance mean to you in art? - How does poetry shape your view of reality? A Different Perspective Poetry may oversimplify complex realities. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Desire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desire/) [Desire Resemblance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desire-resemblance-2862544/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Poetry is](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry-is/) [Poetry Satifying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry-satifying-2862543/) [Resemblance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/resemblance/) [Satifying Desire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/satifying-desire-2862545/) ## Related quotes > [Poetry is the statement of a relation between a man and the world](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/poetry-is-the-statement-of-a-relation-between-a-man-and-the-world/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [The belief in poetry is a magnificent fury, or it is nothing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/the-belief-in-poetry-is-a-magnificent-fury-or-it-is-nothing/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [Poetry is poetry, and one's objective as a poet is to achieve poetry precisely as one's objective in music is to achieve music.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/poetry-is-poetry-and-one-s-objective-as-a-poet-is-to-achieve-poetry/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [The purpose of poetry is to make life complete in itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/the-purpose-of-poetry-is-to-make-life-complete-in-itself/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [Poetry is the scholar's art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/poetry-is-the-scholar-s-art/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [When she is older she will see in these resemblances a regrettable uniformity among individuals (they all stop at the same spots to kiss,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milan-kundera/when-she-is-older-she-will-see-in-these-resemblances-a-regrettable/) [Milan Kundera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milan-kundera/) > [Bird taxonomy is a difficult field because of the severe anatomical constraints imposed by flight. There are only so many ways to design a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jared-diamond/bird-taxonomy-is-a-difficult-field-because-of-the-severe-anatomical/) [Jared Diamond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jared-diamond/) > [While a painting, even one that meets photographic standards of resemblance, is never more than the stating of an interpretation, a photograph is never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/while-a-painting-even-one-that-meets-photographic-standards-of/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [“If we want to decode our community's deep-seated fibers, we must go and see the world and explore the significant distinctions and resemblances. To…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erik-pevernagie/if-we-want-to-decode-our-community-s-deep-seated-fibers-we-must-go/) [Erik Pevernagie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erik-pevernagie/) > [The church of St. Peter at Berlin, notwithstanding the total difference between them in the style of building, appears in some respects to have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-philipp-moritz/the-church-of-st-peter-at-berlin-notwithstanding-the-total-difference/) [Karl Philipp Moritz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-philipp-moritz/) > [“I am fortunate to be a resemblance, rather than a replication of who I was yesterday.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/the-letters-of-gratitude/i-am-fortunate-to-be-a-resemblance-rather-than-a-replication-of-who-i/) [The Letters Of Gratitude](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/the-letters-of-gratitude/) > [PHYSIOGNOMY, n. The art of determining the character of another by the resemblances and differences between his face and our own, which is the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ambrose-bierce/physiognomy-n-the-art-of-determining-the-character-of-another-by-the/) [Ambrose Bierce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ambrose-bierce/) > [Any resemblance is coincidentally pure.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-alejandro-king/any-resemblance-is-coincidentally-pure/) [John Alejandro King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-alejandro-king/) > [Art finds her own perfection within, and not outside of, herself. She is not to be judged by any external standard of resemblance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/art-finds-her-own-perfection-within-and-not-outside-of-herself-she-is/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The rationale which accompanies that imposition of male authority euphemistically referred to as 'the battle of the sexes' bears a certain resemblance to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-millett/the-rationale-which-accompanies-that-imposition-of-male-authority/) [Kate Millett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-millett/) ## More by Wallace Stevens > [Poet, patting more nonsense foamed From the sea, conceive for thecourts Of these academies, the diviner health Disclosed in common forms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/poet-patting-more-nonsense-foamed-from-the-sea-conceive-for-thecourts/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [The way through the world is more difficult to find than the way beyond it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/the-way-through-the-world-is-more-difficult-to-find-than-the-way/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [The magnificent cause of being, The imagination, the one reality In this imagined world](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/the-magnificent-cause-of-being-the-imagination-the-one-reality-in/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [Music falls on the silence like a sense / A passion that we feel, not understand.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/music-falls-on-the-silence-like-a-sense-a-passion-that-we-feel-not/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [The life of the city never lets you go, nor do you ever want it to.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/the-life-of-the-city-never-lets-you-go-nor-do-you-ever-want-it-to/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [After a lustre of the moon, we say We have not the need of any paradise, We have not the need of any seducing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/after-a-lustre-of-the-moon-we-say-we-have-not-the-need-of-any/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [I am what is around me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/i-am-what-is-around-me/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [“We live in an old chaos of the sun, Or old dependency of day and night, Or island solitude, unsponsored, free, Of that wide…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/we-live-in-an-old-chaos-of-the-sun-or-old-dependency-of-day-and-night/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [“Lunar Paraphrase" The moon is the mother of pathos and pity. When, at the wearier end of November, Her old light moves along the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/lunar-paraphrase-the-moon-is-the-mother-of-pathos-and-pity-when-at/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [Poetry is the scholar's art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/poetry-is-the-scholar-s-art/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [“The stars are putting on their glittering belts, They throw around their shoulders cloaks that flash Like a great shadow's last embellishment”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/the-stars-are-putting-on-their-glittering-belts-they-throw-around/) [wallace stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [Unfortunately there is nothing more inane than an Easter carol. It is a religious perversion of the activity of Spring in our blood.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/unfortunately-there-is-nothing-more-inane-than-an-easter-carol-it-is/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [The word is the making of the world](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/the-word-is-the-making-of-the-world/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [A diary is more or less the work of a man of clay whose hands are clumsy and in whose eyes there is no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/a-diary-is-more-or-less-the-work-of-a-man-of-clay-whose-hands-are/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [It is never the thing but the version of the thing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/it-is-never-the-thing-but-the-version-of-the-thing/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) [Explore all 352 Wallace Stevens quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) ## More Art quotes > [True works of art contain their own theory and give us the measurement according to which we should judge them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/true-works-of-art-contain-their-own-theory-and-give-us-the/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [Before Noah, men having only water to drink, could not find the truth. Accordingly...they became abominably wicked, and they were justly exterminated by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-franklin/before-noah-men-having-only-water-to-drink-could-not-find-the-truth/) [Benjamin Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-franklin/) > [“Hear the sum of the whole matter in the compass of one brief word — every art possessed by man comes from Prometheus.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aeschylus/hear-the-sum-of-the-whole-matter-in-the-compass-of-one-brief-word/) [Aeschylus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aeschylus/) > [I think most artists feel like they're outside society - no matter how many accolades they receive, or how much money is in your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aaron-rose/i-think-most-artists-feel-like-they-re-outside-society-no-matter-how/) [Aaron Rose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aaron-rose/) > [The capacity to be puzzled is the premise of all creation, be it in art or in science.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erich-fromm/the-capacity-to-be-puzzled-is-the-premise-of-all-creation-be-it-in/) [Erich Fromm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-fromm/) > [That's the great secret of creativity. You treat ideas like cats: you make them follow you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/that-s-the-great-secret-of-creativity-you-treat-ideas-like-cats-you/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [“So, really," continued Jacob as if this were perfectly normal to expound on art in these circumstances, "when you think about it, the artists…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justina-chen-headley/so-really-continued-jacob-as-if-this-were-perfectly-normal-to-expound/) [Justina Chen Headley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justina-chen-headley/) > [“There are two options in art; either to adopt philosophical life by dissecting art, or to write your own philosophical life and claim it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/taf-teh/there-are-two-options-in-art-either-to-adopt-philosophical-life-by/) [Taf Teh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/taf-teh/) > [The house has to serve comfort. The work of art is revolutionary; the house is conservative.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-loos/the-house-has-to-serve-comfort-the-work-of-art-is-revolutionary-the/) [Adolf Loos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-loos/) > [During human progress, every science is evolved out of its corresponding art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-spencer/during-human-progress-every-science-is-evolved-out-of-its/) [Herbert Spencer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-spencer/) > [In literature and art memory is a synonym for invention. It is the life-blood of imagination, which faints and dies when the veins are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-aris-willmott/in-literature-and-art-memory-is-a-synonym-for-invention-it-is-the/) [Robert Aris Willmott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-aris-willmott/) > [I think a business guy is different from an artist. They walk different paths. Artists create the best outputs when they're having fun. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-dragon/i-think-a-business-guy-is-different-from-an-artist-they-walk/) [G-Dragon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-dragon/) > [“The only thing--I tell you this straight from the heart--that disgusts me in Salzburg is that one can't have any proper social intercourse with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wolfgang-amadeus-mozart/the-only-thing-i-tell-you-this-straight-from-the-heart-that-disgusts/) [Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wolfgang-amadeus-mozart/) > [The sublime in art is the attempt to express the infinite without finding in the realm of phenomena any object which proves itself fitting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/the-sublime-in-art-is-the-attempt-to-express-the-infinite-without/) [Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/) > [Art isn't done to decorate apartments, but to wage war against the enemy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/art-isn-t-done-to-decorate-apartments-but-to-wage-war-against-the/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) [Browse all 48,643 Art quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Poetry is a satifying of the desire for resemblance.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wallace Stevens" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/poetry-is-a-satifying-of-the-desire-for-resemblance/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Art" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/poetry-is-a-satifying-of-the-desire-for-resemblance/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/141/wallace-stevens-846_art_poetry-is-a-satifying-of-the-desire-for_1096630.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/141/wallace-stevens-846_art_poetry-is-a-satifying-of-the-desire-for_1096630.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/141/wallace-stevens-846_art_poetry-is-a-satifying-of-the-desire-for_1096630.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Poetry is a satifying of the desire for resemblance.” — Wallace Stevens", "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": "Wallace Stevens", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Poetry is a satifying of the...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/poetry-is-a-satifying-of-the-desire-for-resemblance/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/poetry-is-a-satifying-of-the-desire-for-resemblance/#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 } } ] } ```