10 Great Quotes About Poets, Poetry, and Writing by Stanley Kunitz

“The poem comes in the form of a blessing, like rapture breaking on the mind.”

“Poetry is ultimately mythology, the telling of stories of the soul. The old myths, the old gods, the old heroes have never died. They are only sleeping at the bottom of our minds, waiting for our call. We have need of them, for in their sum they epitomize the wisdom and experience of the race.”

“I want to write poems that are natural, luminous, deep, spare. I dream of an art so transparent that you can look through and see the world.”

“A poem has secrets that the poet knows nothing of.”

“You must be careful not to deprive the poem of its wild origin.”

“End with an image and don’t explain.”

“The poem in the head is always perfect. Resistance begins when you try to convert it into language.”

“Few young poets are testing their poems against the ear. They’re writing for the page, and the page, let me tell you, is a cold bed.”

“Poetry today is easier to write but harder to remember.”

“The ear writes my poems, not the mind.”

– Stanley Kunitz