--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The purpose of poetry is to make life…" description: "\"The purpose of poetry is to make life complete in itself.\" — Wallace Stevens" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a35/wallace-stevens-846_inspirational_the-purpose-of-poetry-is-to-make-life-co_291031.jpg" --- # The purpose of poetry is to make life complete in itself. ![“The purpose of poetry is to make life complete in itself.” quote by Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a35/wallace-stevens-846_inspirational_the-purpose-of-poetry-is-to-make-life-co_291031.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a35/wallace-stevens-846_inspirational_the-purpose-of-poetry-is-to-make-life-co_291031.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a35/wallace-stevens-846_inspirational_the-purpose-of-poetry-is-to-make-life-co_291031.jpg) > “The purpose of poetry is to make life complete in itself.” [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 aims to give life its own completeness, making existence self‑sufficient through artistic expression. **In simple terms:** Poetry makes life feel whole. Key Takeaway Seek completeness through creative expression. Themes art poetry completion existence self‑sufficiency Mood contemplative artistic Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - writing workshops - reading groups - personal reflection - education Key Concepts Aesthetic theory existentialism literary criticism Questions to Reflect On - How does poetry affect your sense of wholeness? - Can other arts provide similar completeness? A Different Perspective Art may not satisfy practical needs. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Inspirational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspirational/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Life Complete](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life-complete-270887/) [Make Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/make-life-261478/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Poetry is](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry-is/) [Poetry Make](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry-make-307349/) [Purpose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/purpose/) [Purpose Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/purpose-poetry-2800011/) ## Related quotes > [The purpose of poetry is to restore to mankind the possibility to wonder.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/the-purpose-of-poetry-is-to-restore-to-mankind-the-possibility-to/) [Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) > [The purpose of the poetry is not to dazzle us with an astonishing thought, but to make one moment of existence unforgettable and worthy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milan-kundera/the-purpose-of-the-poetry-is-not-to-dazzle-us-with-an-astonishing/) [Milan Kundera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milan-kundera/) > [The purpose of poetry is to remind us / how difficult it is to remain just one person...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/czeslaw-milosz/the-purpose-of-poetry-is-to-remind-us-how-difficult-it-is-to-remain-2/) [Czeslaw Milosz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/czeslaw-milosz/) > [If the object of poetry is, to make men, then poetry is the heir of prophecy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/muhammad-iqbal/if-the-object-of-poetry-is-to-make-men-then-poetry-is-the-heir-of/) [Muhammad Iqbal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/muhammad-iqbal/) > [I will always be true to you...I will never do you wrong...You make my life complete...You are my everything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-will-always-be-true-to-you-i-will-never-do-you-wrong-you-make-my/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I may not have everything I want in life but I have all I will ever need to make my life complete, my family.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-may-not-have-everything-i-want-in-life-but-i-have-all-i-will-ever/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“You don't have to do a bunch of crazy stuff to make your life complete. You just have to deal with life.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-ehrenhaft/you-don-t-have-to-do-a-bunch-of-crazy-stuff-to-make-your-life/) [Daniel Ehrenhaft](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-ehrenhaft/) > [“The purpose of poetry is to remind us how difficult it is to remain just one person, for our house is open, there are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/czes-aw-mi-osz/the-purpose-of-poetry-is-to-remind-us-how-difficult-it-is-to-remain/) [Czesław Miłosz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/czes-aw-mi-osz/) > [It was not the purpose of poetry to record anything and everything, to merely describe either the outer world or some subjective mood, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathleen-raine/it-was-not-the-purpose-of-poetry-to-record-anything-and-everything-to/) [Kathleen Raine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathleen-raine/) > [All lives are composed of two basic elements," the squirrel said, "purpose and poetry. By being ourselves, squirrel and raven, we fulfill the first…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-s-beagle/all-lives-are-composed-of-two-basic-elements-the-squirrel-said/) [Peter S. Beagle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-s-beagle/) > [“The poet's nature is all searching, creator and nourisher of desire; the poet is like the heart in a people's breast, a people without…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sir-muhammad-iqbal-allama-iqbal/the-poet-s-nature-is-all-searching-creator-and-nourisher-of-desire/) [Sir Muhammad Iqbal Allama Iqbal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sir-muhammad-iqbal-allama-iqbal/) > [The purpose of poetry is to remind us how difficult it is to remain just one person, for our house is open, there are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/czeslaw-milosz/the-purpose-of-poetry-is-to-remind-us-how-difficult-it-is-to-remain-3/) [Czeslaw Milosz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/czeslaw-milosz/) > [Art: If the object of poetry is, to make men, then poetry is the heir of prophecy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/muhammad-iqbal/art-if-the-object-of-poetry-is-to-make-men-then-poetry-is-the-heir-of/) [Muhammad Iqbal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/muhammad-iqbal/) > [The poet, distracted by politics, asks of poetry that it make itself useful like metal or flour, that it get ready to stain its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eduardo-galeano/the-poet-distracted-by-politics-asks-of-poetry-that-it-make-itself/) [Eduardo Galeano](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eduardo-galeano/) > [I rarely think of poetry as something I make happen; it is more accurate to say that it happens to me. Like a summer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-kingsolver/i-rarely-think-of-poetry-as-something-i-make-happen-it-is-more/) [Barbara Kingsolver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-kingsolver/) ## 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 Inspirational quotes > [Life is full of change. That's how we learn and grow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/life-is-full-of-change-that-s-how-we-learn-and-grow/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [We talk to God--that is prayer; God talks to us--that is inspiration.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-emilie-cady/we-talk-to-god-that-is-prayer-god-talks-to-us-that-is-inspiration/) [H. Emilie Cady](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-emilie-cady/) > [You cant be controlling in improv.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-walsh/you-cant-be-controlling-in-improv/) [Matt Walsh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-walsh/) > [The man who can master his time can master nearly anything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/the-man-who-can-master-his-time-can-master-nearly-anything/) [Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/) > [You'll seldom experience regret for anything that you've done. It is what you haven't done that will torment you. The message, therefore, is clear.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/you-ll-seldom-experience-regret-for-anything-that-you-ve-done-it-is/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Just understand that the good that you want is already here. All you have to do is get in harmony with it. And you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-proctor/just-understand-that-the-good-that-you-want-is-already-here-all-you/) [Bob Proctor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-proctor/) > [“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antoine-de-saint-exup-ry/if-you-want-to-build-a-ship-don-t-drum-up-the-men-to-gather-wood/) [Antoine de Saint-Exupéry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antoine-de-saint-exup-ry/) > [Obviously, if you don't love life, you can't enjoy an oyster.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eleanor-clark/obviously-if-you-don-t-love-life-you-can-t-enjoy-an-oyster/) [Eleanor Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eleanor-clark/) > [It's not the method, it's the mindset.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andy-gilbert/it-s-not-the-method-it-s-the-mindset/) [Andy Gilbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andy-gilbert/) > [It's a hard thing to describe. It's just this sense that you got something to say.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonah-lehrer/it-s-a-hard-thing-to-describe-it-s-just-this-sense-that-you-got/) [Jonah Lehrer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonah-lehrer/) > [Too much familiarity breeds contempt.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vikrant-parsai/too-much-familiarity-breeds-contempt/) [Vikrant Parsai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vikrant-parsai/) > [We never really perceive what color is physically!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josef-albers/we-never-really-perceive-what-color-is-physically/) [Josef Albers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josef-albers/) > [Politics is not an issue whether you like or dislike , but every citizen must involve.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/khem-veasna/politics-is-not-an-issue-whether-you-like-or-dislike-but-every/) [Khem Veasna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/khem-veasna/) > [God reveals Himself through surprises.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-francis/god-reveals-himself-through-surprises/) [Pope Francis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-francis/) > [Never underestimate the power of the human mind to believe what it wants to believe, no matter the conflicting evidence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-herbert/never-underestimate-the-power-of-the-human-mind-to-believe-what-it/) [Brian Herbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-herbert/) [Browse all 114,561 Inspirational quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspirational/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The purpose of poetry is to make life complete in itself.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wallace Stevens" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/the-purpose-of-poetry-is-to-make-life-complete-in-itself/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Inspirational" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/the-purpose-of-poetry-is-to-make-life-complete-in-itself/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a35/wallace-stevens-846_inspirational_the-purpose-of-poetry-is-to-make-life-co_291031.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a35/wallace-stevens-846_inspirational_the-purpose-of-poetry-is-to-make-life-co_291031.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a35/wallace-stevens-846_inspirational_the-purpose-of-poetry-is-to-make-life-co_291031.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The purpose of poetry is to make life complete in itself.” — 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": "The purpose of poetry is to...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/the-purpose-of-poetry-is-to-make-life-complete-in-itself/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/the-purpose-of-poetry-is-to-make-life-complete-in-itself/#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 } } ] } ```