I try to be good but sometimes a person just has to break out and act like the wild and springy thing one used to be. It's impossible not to remember wild an want it back.
Mary OliverRead
The challenge is to keep up with all the new poets at the same time I love the old ones.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Balancing appreciation for both contemporary and classic poetry is a challenge.
This quote highlights the difficulty of embracing the evolving landscape of poetry while still cherishing the works of those who have come before. Mary Oliver expresses the sentiment that as new voices and styles emerge, it can be a struggle to remain connected to the traditional poets who have shaped the art form.
Themes
PoetryAppreciationTraditionalContemporaryBalance
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech about the evolution of literature.
More from Mary Oliver
All quotes βAt the time I was growing up, literature was involved with the so-called confessional poets. And I was not interested in that. I did not think that specific and personal perspective functioned well for the reader at all.
Mary OliverRead
I know the sag of the unfinished poem. And I know the release of the poem that is finished.
Mary OliverRead
For poems are not words, after all, but fires for the cold, ropes let down to the lost, something as necessary as bread in the pockets of the hungry.
Mary OliverRead
If I have any lasting worth, it will be because I have tried to make people remember what the Earth is meant to look like.
Mary OliverRead
Every day I see or hear something that more or less kills me with delight, that leaves me like a needle in the haystack of light.
Mary OliverRead
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