Vita Sackville-West Quotes

Prose on certain occasions can bear a great deal of poetry; on the other hand, poetry sinks and swoons under a moderate weight of prose.

Poetry is the most concentrated form of literature; it is the most emotionalized and powerful way in which thought can be presented.

The time is right to mix sentences with dirt and the sun with punctuation and rain with verbs.

I think fiction goes to poetry for the intensity of its use of language.

Poetry must be as well written as prose.

Poetry is not only the most concise way of conveying the human experience; it also offers the highest possible standards for any linguistic operation.

Poetry is a beautiful way of spoiling prose, and the laborious art of exchanging plain sense for harmony.

One merit of poetry few persons will deny: it says more and in fewer words than prose.

A poem records emotions and moods that lie beyond normal language, that can only be patched together and hinted at metaphorically.

No verse can give pleasure for long, nor last, that is written by drinkers of water.

Poetry is thoughts that breathe, and words that burn.

Poetry is a pure meritocracy. There's no room for ambiguity: either a poem moves you and opens up new vistas in life, or it doesn't. It's completely objective, and the best always rise to the top.

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

Religious poetry, civic poetry, lyric or dramatic poetry are all categories of man's expression which are valid only if the endorsement of formal content is valid.

At college, I wanted to be a poet. I liked the extremely concentrated language, the atmosphere of otherworldliness.

The crown of literature is poetry.

There are no poetic ideas; only poetic utterances.

Short stories and poems are an intense burst of emotions.

Ideally, I'd like to write poetry for public performances and prose for a different, more contemplative kind of consumption.

Poetry isn't an activity, it's a way life is lived.

Fiction—and poetry and drama— cleanse the doors of perception.

Poetry is the renewal of words, setting them free, and that's what a poet is doing: loosening the words.

A way of using words to say things which could not possibly be said in any other way, things which in a sense do not exist till they are born … in poetry.

Great thoughts in crude, unshapely verse set forth lose half their preciousness, and ever must, unless the diamond with its own rich dust be cut and polished, it seems little worth.

Prose is a photography, poetry is a painting in oil-colors.