Poetry is not easy. Or should I say, real poetry is not easy.
Robert PinskyRead
New Jersey is the most poetic state: close enough to New York to be urban and cosmopolitan, far enough to be desirous and unsure; densely populated, but full of farms and woods, with the most deer of any state.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the unique and contrasting characteristics of New Jersey, highlighting its blend of urban and natural beauty.
In this quote, Robert Pinsky celebrates New Jersey's dual identity as both an urban and rural state. He points out that its proximity to New York City gives it a cosmopolitan flair, yet it retains an allure of quietness and uncertainty found in its rural landscapes, filled with farms and woods. This contrast evokes a sense of poetic beauty, revealing the complexities of living in a state that encompasses both vibrant city life and serene nature.
Themes
New JerseyPoetryUrbanRuralContrastNatureBeauty
In practice
Example use cases
During a presentation about the diverse culture of New Jersey.
More from Robert Pinsky
All quotes →The medium of poetry is a human body: the column of air inside the chest, shaped into signifying sounds in the larynx and the mouth. In this sense, poetry is just as physical or bodily an art as dancing.
Robert PinskyRead
Poetry is the most bodily of the arts.
Robert PinskyRead
Sometimes the ideas that mean the most to you will feel true long before you can quite formulate them or justify them.
Robert PinskyRead
For a lot of people, well-meaning teaching has made poetry seem arcane, difficult, a kind of brown-knotting medicine that might be good for you but doesn't taste so good. So I tried to make a collection of poetry that would be fun. And that would bring out poetry as an art, rather than the challenge to say smart things.
Robert PinskyRead
'Write' is almost the wrong verb for what I do. I think 'compose' is more accurate because you're trying to make the sounds in your mind and in your voice. So I compose while I'm driving or in the shower.
Robert PinskyRead
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The more abstract is form, the more clear and direct its appeal.
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In the writing process, the more the story cooks, the better. The brain works for you even when you are at rest. I find dreams particularly useful. I myself think a great deal before I go to sleep and the details sometimes unfold in the dream.
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Ideas alone can be works of art; they are in a chain of development that may eventually find some form. All ideas need not be made physical.
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Music is always for the listener, but the first listener is always the musician
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I like the thought that what we are to do on this earth is embellish it for its greater beauty, so that oncoming generations can look back to the shapes we leave here and get the same thrill that I get in looking back at theirs - at the Parthenon, at Chartres Cathedral.
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