A successful poem says what a poet wants to say, and more, with particular finality. The remarks he makes about his poems are incidental when the poem is good, or embarrassing or absurd when it is bad — and he is not permitted to say how the good poem is good, and may never know how the bad poem is bad. It is better to write about other people's poetry.

— Randall Jarrell Kipling, Auden & Co: Essays and Reviews 1935-1964 (1980)

More quotes by Randall Jarrell

Poetry and the Age (1953)

Kipling, Auden & Co: Essays and Reviews 1935-1964 (1980)

Poetry and the Age (1953)

Kipling, Auden & Co: Essays and Reviews 1935-1964 (1980)

Kipling, Auden & Co: Essays and Reviews 1935-1964 (1980)

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