John Hollander on Poetry
1929–2013 United States
← All quotes by John Hollander
9 quotes
The building blocks of poetry itself are elements if fiction -fable, 'image', metaphor-all the material if the nonliteral.
One crosses the brink of literalness into poetry by desiring , noticing, fixing on something and wondering what to make of it.
The blueprints of verse can be used to build things made of literal, or nonpoetic material, which is why most verse is not poetry.
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.
You can teach the writing of verse..like prose..an instrument..and the recognition of true poetry. The rest, writers must teach themselves.
Rhythm and repetition of sounds, words and phrases make spoken poetry sound different to ordinary discourse.
Poetic form, as we know it, is an abstraction from, or residue of musical form.... The ghost of oral poetry never vanishes...all poetry was originally oral.
The warfare between poetry and philosophy certainly started with Plato, who was both poet and philosopher.