Dennis O'Driscoll Quotes

Poetry is most convincing when its elements have been lived.

I am very driven when it comes to poetry, a complete obsessive of the truth be told.

Poetry is nothing less than an aspiration to absolute truth.

I put all my poetry in long hand, try to let the idea marinate as long as possible, clinging to the commonplace notion of a creative connection between the movement of the hand and the flow of imagination.

I know I am in the grip of a true poem when I can hardly bear to read it calmly at first.

If poets spoke their poetry , they would not need to write it.

I would say that poetry for most people is like the Christmas tree that is kept in the attic and is taken down in its appropriate season.

I love the way form and rhythm can somehow confer a higher destiny on even the most workaday words.

A defining mark of poetry is that it defies definition.

When human beings banish God from the world, they make Gods of themselves.

The priority for the poet must be his poetry, the poetry must determine his agenda and deadlines

Genuine poetry reminds us how little we truly know, it is a vehicle for discovery, not a conduit for omniscience.

Our creative habits are as mysterious to each other as our domestic habits.

There is no one way 'correct' way of becoming a writer. The very quirks and eccentricities which a workshop will probably discourage may in fact be the aspiring writer's most valuable capital in the longer term. Would be literary Samsons should be wary of enrolling in a hairdressing school.

What we call inspiration in poetry is usually a visitation of words and rhythms rather than ideas.