Poets are being pursued by the philosophers today, out of the poverty of philosophy. God damn it, you might think a man had no business to be writing, to be a poet unless some philosophic stinker gave him permission.
William Carlos WilliamsRead
But all art is sensual and poetry particularly so. It is directly, that is, of the senses, and since the senses do not exist without an object for their employment all art is necessarily objective. It doesn't declaim or explain, it presents.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Art, especially poetry, is rooted in sensual experience and must engage with the physical world.
William Carlos Williams emphasizes that all forms of art, poetry in particular, are inherently sensual and rooted in the tangible, physical experiences of the senses. He argues that art does not exist in isolation; rather, it requires an object to engage with, allowing it to present experiences rather than merely describe or explain them.
Themes
ArtPoetrySensesExpressionExperience
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the nature of creativity, this quote can illustrate how art engages our senses.
More from William Carlos Williams
All quotes →For the beginning is assuredly the end- since we know nothing, pure and simple, beyond our own complexities.
William Carlos WilliamsRead
It was the love of love, the love of swallows up all else, a grateful love, a love of natural, of people, of animals, a love ingengering gentleness and goodness that moved meand that I saw in you
William Carlos WilliamsRead
O frost bitten blossoms, That are unfolding your wings From out the envious black branches. Bloom quickly and make much of the sunshine. The twigs conspire against you! Hear hem! They hold you from behind.
William Carlos WilliamsRead
No opinion can be trusted; even the facts may be nothing but a printer's error.
William Carlos WilliamsRead
It is almost impossible to state what one in fact believes, because it is almost impossible to hold a belief and to define it at the same time.
William Carlos WilliamsRead
Similar quotes
If contemporary artists sincerely seek to be original, unique, and new, they should begin by disregarding the notions of originality, individuality, and innovation: they are the cliches of our time.
Octavio PazRead
All furnished, all in arms;_x000D_ _x000D_ All plum'd like estridges that with the wind_x000D_ _x000D_ Bated like eagles having lately bathed;_x000D_ _x000D_ Glittering in golden coats like images;_x000D_ _x000D_ As full of spirit as the month of May_x000D_ _x000D_ And gorgeous as the sun at midsummer;_x000D_ _x000D_ Wanton as youthful goats, wild as young bulls.
William ShakespeareRead
Beautiful forms and compositions are not made by chance, nor can they ever, in any material, be made at small expense. A composition for cheapness and not excellence of workmanship is the most frequent and certain cause of the rapid decay and entire destruction of arts and manufacturers.
Josiah WedgwoodRead
You're getting everyone's point of view at the same time, which for me, is the perfect state for a novel: a cubist state, the cubist novel.
Michael OndaatjeRead
Into the street the piper stepped, Smiling first a little smile As if he knew what magic slept In his quiet pipe the while. And the piper advanced And the children followed.
Robert BrowningRead
The writer must be universal in sympathy and an outcast by nature: only then can he see clearly.
Julian BarnesRead