John Hollander Quotes

A teacher (of poetry) has to know and feel what poetry is , and be able - and this is crucial- to read it aloud effectively.

Poetry may be written on paper, but it’s an oral art.A good poem satisfies the ear .It creates a story or picture that grabs you.

Contrastive stress is very important in English, as poems are full of invisible italicised contrasts of this kind.

I usually seem to finish a poem when I write it down. I may have been carrying the notion around in my head.

The blueprints of verse can be used to build things made of literal, or nonpoetic material, which is why most verse is not poetry.

Winter wields only the spades, Summer brandishes
Hot, black clubs, Spring shower hearts about and Autumn shows
A fall of diamonds in our climate of extremes

Great poems are all fables about life.

Ultimately poetic thought is interpretive.

I find free verse very, very difficult to write.

The large (in English) unphilosophical, 'poetic' or 'religious' questions are elicited from their precise and technical microcosms.

Rhythm and repetition of sounds, words and phrases make spoken poetry sound different to ordinary discourse.

Major poetry not only 'employs' metaphor, irony and other tropes (and is of them) but always and explicitly or implicitly considers the nature of the trope itself.

We and the trees and the way
Back from the fields of play
Lasted as long as we could No more walks in the wood

Not being a philosopher I've had to work through my feelings and puzzlements in poems.

Reading a poem aloud by someone who understands it, can be a crucial experience, but better yet is reading it aloud oneself.