John Barton Quotes

It's not easy to define poetry.

Poetry is the exquisite expression of exquisite expressions.

You don't make a poem with ideas, but with words.

Poetry is that art which selects and arranges the symbols of thought in such a manner as to excite the imagination the most powerfully and delightfully.

Poetry, almost by definition, calls attention to its language and form.

Poetry is not only a set of words which are chosen to relate to each other; it is something which goes much further than that to provide a glimpse of our vision of the world.

Poetry is, first and last, language - the rest is filler.

Poetry is fascinating. As soon as it begins the poetry has changed the thing into something extra, and somehow prose can go over into poetry.

I keep trying to define 'poetry,' but it's so difficult.

Poets deal in writing about feelings and trying to find the language and images for intense feelings.

When you read and understand a poem, comprehending its rich and formal meanings, then you master chaos a little.

I could no more define poetry than a terrier can define a rat.

Poetry is finer and more philosophical than history; for poetry expresses the universal, and history only the particular.

People want poetry. They need poetry. They get it. They don't want fancy work.

I'm a poet, and I spent my life in poetry.

Poetry is what gets lost in translation.

A poet is, before anything else, a person who is passionately in love with language.

I must say, when I reread myself, it's the poetry I tend to look at. It's the most exciting to write, and it's over the quickest.

Poetry is a special use of language that opens onto the real. The business of the poet is truth telling, which is why in the Celtic tradition no one could be a teacher unless he or she was a poet.

Poetry is always slightly mysterious, and you wonder what is your relationship to it.

Poems seem to have a life of their own. They tell you when enough is enough.

The object of poetic activity is essentially language: whatever his beliefs and convictions, the poet is more concerned with words than with what these words designate.

A novelist can get by on story, but the poet has nothing but the words.

If we ask a vague question, such as, 'What is poetry?' we expect a vague answer, such as, 'Poetry is the music of words,' or 'Poetry is the linguistic correction of disorder.'

Poetry is the synthesis of hyacinths and biscuits.