Thoughts on Poetry

One demands two things of a poem. Firstly, it must be a well-made verbal object that does honor to the language in which it is written. Secondly, it must say something significant about a reality common to us all, but perceived from a unique perspective. What the poet says has never been said before, but, once he has said it, his readers recognize its validity for themselves.—W. H. Auden

Poetry lifts the veil from the hidden beauty of the world, and makes familiar objects be as if they were not familiar.—Percy Bysshe Shelley

Poets utter great and wise things which they do not themselves understand.—Plato

Like a piece of ice on a hot stove, the poem must ride on its melting.—Robert Frost