10 Great Quotes About Poets, Poetry, and Writing By Samuel Taylor Coleridge

~ Paul Szlosek

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“Poetry: the best words in the best order.”

“Works of imagination should be written in very plain language; the more purely imaginative they are, the more necessary it is to be plain.”

“What is an epigram? A dwarfish whole. Its body brevity, and wit its soul.”

“Poetry has been to me its own exceeding great reward; it has given me the habit of wishing to discover the good and beautiful in all that meets and surrounds me.”

“A poet ought not to pick nature’s pocket. Let him borrow, and so borrow as to repay by the very act of borrowing. Examine nature accurately, but write from recollection, and trust more to the imagination than the memory.”

“When a man is unhappy he writes damned bad poetry…”

“Iambics march from short to long;–
With a leap and a bound the swift Anapaests throng.”

“No man was ever yet a great poet, without being at the same time a profound philosopher.”

“Poetry is the blossom and the fragrance of all human knowledge, human thoughts, human passions, emotions, language.”

“Sir, I admit your general rule, That every poet is a fool, But you yourself may serve to show it, That every fool is not a poet.”

—Samuel Taylor Coleridge

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Published by Paul Szlosek

Paul Szlosek was born in Southbridge, Massachusetts, but currently resides in the nearby metropolis of Worcester. He was co-founder and host of the long-running Poet’s Parlor poetry reading in Southbridge and Sturbridge, as well as a past recipient of the Jacob Knight Award for Poetry. His poems have appeared in various local publications including the Worcester Review, Worcester Magazine, Sahara, Concrete Wolf, and Diner. He’s probably best known in the Worcester poetry community for his fanatical obsession with obscure poetry forms, and has invented his own including the ziggurat, the streetbeatina, and (most recently) the hodgenelle.

11 thoughts on “10 Great Quotes About Poets, Poetry, and Writing By Samuel Taylor Coleridge”

  1. “A poet ought not to pick nature’s pocket. Let him borrow, and so borrow as to repay by the very act of borrowing. Examine nature accurately, but write from recollection, and trust more to the imagination than the memory.”

    Good one to think on.

    Liked by 2 people

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  5. “Poetry is the blossom and the fragrance of all human knowledge, human thoughts, human passions, emotions, language.”
    I love this statement…. Poetry is but a whiff of reality… like the flower … here today and gone tomorrow!

    Liked by 1 person

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