There are times in life when, instead of complaining, you do something about your complaints.
Rita DoveRead
I make a discovery in a poem as I write it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The process of creating poetry is often a journey of personal discovery for the poet.
Rita Dove's quote highlights the inherent relationship between writing poetry and self-discovery. As a poet engages with their craft, they often uncover new insights, emotions, and understandings about themselves and the world around them, suggesting that the act of writing is not only about creation but also about exploration and revelation.
Themes
PoetryDiscoveryCreative ProcessSelf-ExplorationArt
In practice
Example use cases
In a poetry workshop, I shared Dove's quote to inspire participants to embrace the unknown journey of creation.
More from Rita Dove
All quotes →Without imagination we can go nowhere. And imagination is not restricted to the arts. Every scientist I have met who has been a success has had to imagine.
Rita DoveRead
As an African-American, as a woman, I think that I've been sensitized to the way in which history privileges the white male and the way in which certain aspects of history, the things that we are taught in school, the things that are handed down, never, never entered the picture though they might have been very important.
Rita DoveRead
If our children are unable to voice what they mean, no one will know how they feel. If they can’t imagine a different world, they are stumbling through a darkness made all the more sinister by its lack of reference points. For a young person growing up in America’s alienated neighborhoods, there can be no greater empowerment than to dare to speak from the heart — and then to discover that one is not alone in ones feelings.
Rita DoveRead
All of us have moments in our childhood where we come alive for the first time. And we go back to those moments and think, This is when I became myself.
Rita DoveRead
Being Poet Laureate made me realize I was capable of a larger voice. There is a more public utterance I can make as a poet.
Rita DoveRead
Similar quotes
My boobs are fake, my hair's fake but what is real is my voice and my heart.
Dolly PartonRead
A rapid rendering of a landscape represents only one moment of its existence. I prefer, by insisting upon its essential character, to risk losing charm in order to gain greater stability.
Henri MatisseRead
Once something is memorable, it's living and you're using it. That to me is the foundation of a creative society.
Yo-Yo MaRead
Nobody, I think, ought to read poetry, or look at pictures or statues, who cannot find a great deal more in them than the poet or artist has actually expressed. Their highest merit is suggestiveness.
Nathaniel HawthorneRead
The effect of sincerity is to give one's work the character of a protest. The painter, being concerned only with conveying his impression, simply seeks to be himself and no one else.
Claude MonetRead
For your information, a good novel can change the world. Keep that in mind before you attempt to sit down at a typewriter. Never waste time on something you don't believe in yourself.
John FanteRead