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Quotes from Poetry and Craft — Theodore Roethke

1908–1963 United States

← All quotes by Theodore Roethke

8 quotes

Art is the means we have of undoing the damage of haste. It's what everything else isn't.

Poetry and Craft (1965)

There's a point where plainness is no longer a virtue, when it becomes excessively bald, wrenched.

Poetry and Craft (1965)

The poem, even a short time after being written, seems no miracle; unwritten, it seems something beyond the capacity of the gods.

Poetry and Craft (1965)

You must believe: a poem is a holy thing — a good poem, that is.

Poetry and Craft (1965)

You can't make poetry simply by avoiding clichés.

Poetry and Craft (1965)

There's an element of desperation in the insistence of the graduate student's respect for knowledge — as opposed to wisdom. (p. 95)

Poetry and Craft (1965)

In our age, if a boy or girl is untalented, the odds are in favor of their thinking they want to write. (p. 89)

Poetry and Craft (1965)

Poetry is not a mere shuffling of dead words or even a corralling of live ones. (p. 89)

Poetry and Craft (1965)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Theodore Roethke (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.