399 Poet Quotes for You to Enjoy

Sometimes I feel as if I am read before I write. When I write a poem about my mother, Palestinians think my mother is a symbol for Palestine. But I write as a poet, and my mother is my mother. She's not a symbol. Mahmoud Darwish

Sometimes Mother Poet Before Think About Poem Write Feel She Read Am Palestine Palestinians Symbol

I've always been a poet. My dad went to Lincoln University with Gil-Scott Heron, so I came out of the womb listening to Gil-Scott Heron. Malcolm-Jamal Warner

Listening Poet Out Always Lincoln Came Been Womb Dad University

It is quite cruel that a poet cannot wander through his regions of enchantment without having a critic, forever, like the old man of the sea, upon his back. Marianne Moore

Man Old Poet Back Critic Having Through Cruel Like Without Enchantment His Forever Quite Wander Cannot Regions Old Man Sea

Of course, you would have to be insane to hope your child grows up to be a playwright or poet. Given the odds, you would have to be quite cavalier about your children's future. Mark Helprin

Hope Future You Poet Odds Playwright Insane Would About Given Course Up Child Quite Children Your Your Child Grows

One of my very favourite poets was a Massachusetts poet named Robert Lowell. Mark Lanegan

Poet Favourite Poets Named Massachusetts Robert Very

I read Rumi, the 13th-century Persian poet, every day. Mary Oliver

Day Every Day Poet Every Read Persian

A poet in history is divine, but a poet in the next room is a joke. Max Eastman

History Poet Joke Divine Room Next

Maya Angelou, the famous African American poet, historian, and civil rights activist who is hailed be many as one of the great voices of contemporary literature, believes a struggle only makes a person stronger. Michael N. Castle

Great Struggle Rights Stronger Poet Civil Civil Rights Angelou Only Voices Contemporary Makes Historian Person American Maya Angelou African Famous African-American Literature Who Many Activist Believes

My father, Eric Trethewey, is a poet, so I had one right inside the house. And on long trips, he'd tell me, if I got bored in the car, to write a poem about it. And I did find that poetry was a way for me, I think as it for a lot of people, to articulate those things that seem hardest to say. Natasha Trethewey

Me People Car Father Long Poet Think Way Say Those Tell Find Bored Inside About Seem Trips Poem Poetry Write Had He House Got Eric Lot Articulate Did Hardest Right Things

Before I was ever a poet, my father was writing poems about me, so it was a turning of the tables when I became a poet and started answering, speaking back to his poems in ways that I had not before. Natasha Trethewey

Me Writing Father Poet Before Back Ways Tables About Poems Had Became Answering His Turning Speaking Ever Started

My father is a poet, my stepmother is a poet, and so I always had encouragement as a child to write. Natasha Trethewey

Father Poet Encouragement Write Had Stepmother Always Child

'Memory.' 'Race.' 'Murder.' That's what they say about me. I am an elegiac poet. I have some historical questions, and I'm grappling with ways to make sense of history; why it still haunts us in our most intimate relationships with each other, but also in our political decisions. Natasha Trethewey

Me History Memory Political Poet Sense Other Relationships Our Intimate Say Ways Some About Haunts Most Also Make Am Still Political Decisions Historical Questions Decisions Race Us Grappling Each They Say Why

I like it when someone gives me a new book of poetry by a poet I haven't read. Nell Freudenberger

Me Book Poet Someone Gives Poetry New Like New Book Read

I became an electrician after high school. But I always had this thing in me to write. But it was always a little shameful. To say you were a poet was saying you were kind of crazy, and I carried that around for a long time. I still kind of carry that. And I think it might be true, actually. Nick Flynn

Saying Time Me Crazy You School Be True Long Poet Long Time Think Say Carried Kind High Carry High School Shameful Write Had True Became Around Always Still Were After Little Might Electrician Actually Thing

The attention one gets from being a poet isn't great. Nick Flynn

Great Poet Attention Gets Being

When you see the poet laureate saying that every child should have read 'Ulysses' and that you're just giving up on children if you think it's elitist - does that include children with special needs or whose first language isn't English? Nick Hornby

Saying Needs You Language Poet Giving Giving Up First Every Think Laureate See Poet Laureate Read Does Ulysses Up Child Just Children Should Special English Special Needs Include Whose Elitist

And in a way, that's been a help to me, because I take great passions for a particular poet - sometimes it lasts for many years, sometimes only for a while. This happens to everybody. Norman MacCaig

Great Me Sometimes Poet Everybody Lasts Way Only Take Particular Because Passions Been Years Happens While Help Many

And some poets are far better read off the page because they're very bad speakers. I'm thinking of one in particular whom I won't name, a good poet, and he reads in such a dry, boring way, your eyes start drooping. Norman MacCaig

Good Eyes Better Poet Thinking Way Bad Boring Some Poets He Name Particular Read Dry Because Reads Off Very Far Page Your Speakers Whom Start

When I talk of hearing a poet's voice speaking, I always think of it as in the presence of the man. Norman MacCaig

Man Poet Think Voice Talk Always Hearing Speaking Presence

Walt Whitman is the only great modern poet who does not seem to experience discord when he faces his world. Not even solitude - his monologue is a universal chorus. Octavio Paz

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