Quotes About Verse

Realism, unadulterated Realism, which is a dangerous experiment in prose, is a sheer impossibility in poetry; for in poetry what is offered us, and what delights us, is not realistic but ideal representation. No doubt the very music of verse is part of the means whereby this ideal representation is effected; but it will not of itself suffice, as may easily be proved by reciting mere nonsense verses in which the rhythm or music may be faultless.

Most patriotic verse, however spirited, is verse only, nothing or little more.

Though what is understood as religious sentiment comes next to the love of individuals for each other in the extent of its influence, it has produced much verse, but, it must be allowed, little poetry, the reason probably being that the religious sentiment of the few who are endowed with the gift of writing poetry differs from that of the average "religious" person.

No verse which is unmusical or obscure can be regarded as poetry whatever other qualities it may possess.

The most generous critic, if he is to be discriminating and just, cannot, let me say again, allow that any verse which is profoundly obscure or utterly unmusical, no matter how intellectual in substance, deserves the appellation of poetry.

I don't see that a single line can constitute a stanza, although it can constitute a whole poem.

In many ways, I feel like the form carries so much of the weight in a poem, obviously. But I think we sometimes forget that.

They're very different things, a poem and a song, you wouldn't think they would be, but they are.

I am a poet, and I speak poetically.

The basic rhymes in English are masculine, which is to say that the last syllable of the line is stressed: 'lane' rhymes with 'pain,' but it also rhymes with 'urbane' since the last syllable of 'urbane' is stressed. 'Lane' does not rhyme with 'methane.'

In my opinion, it is easier to avoid iambic rhythms, when writing in syllabics, if you create a line or pattern of lines using odd numbers of syllables.

Lucky Devon Pixies, said the sign. I'm a lucky Devon pixie, from the legend old and true, Kiss me once and turn me twice and I'll bring luck to you. The pixies were silver charms in pretty little boxes with the verse on the lid,

I dream of silent verses where the rhyme glides noiseless as an oar.

I love romantic poetry.

The Bible says, 'If any would not work, neither should he eat.' Saint Paul wrote that, in Second Thessalonians, chapter three, verse ten

In love, a verse of Mimnermus has more power than one of Homer.

Actually, the quotation is more accurately depicted as 'Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.' Proverbs, chapter sixteen, verse eighteen.

Melancholy Shakespearean passages provided him with relief. They offered structured, resonant versions of gloom. They organized sad topics and made them meaningful. Reciting dark writings aloud let him project his depression outward so that it was filtered through the improving lens of poetry. The rhythms and images of verse crystallized his private experience in a manner similar to the way his finest speeches crystallized and uplifted the national experience.

A Beautiful verse takes birth when "U"n"I" VERSE.

BLANK-VERSE, n. Unrhymed iambic pentameters - the most difficult kind of English verse to write acceptably; a kind, therefore, much affected by those who cannot acceptably write any kind.

We read every verse of Scripture lovingly and attentively, because every verse is a potential summons from God.

I now wish that I had spent somewhat more of my life with verse. This is not because I fear having missed out on truths that are incapable of statement in prose. There are no such truths; there is nothing about death that Swinburne and Landor knew but Epicurus and Heidegger failed to grasp. Rather, it is because I would have lived more fully if I had been able to rattle off more old chestnuts — just as I would have if I had made more close friends.

I watched the proceedings from across the room while Cleopatra babbled at me. She was pretty drunk. Finally, I got what she was burbling: "Wild Party." You know, the thing in verse about a party that's quite a ball itself. She must have spent a lot of lonely nights memorizing that one.

The objective idea is all I ever cared about. Most of my ideas occur in verse... To be too subjective with what an artist has managed to make objective is to come on him presumptuously and render ungraceful what he in pain of his life had faith he had made graceful.