It's absolutely crucial to maintain my life as a poet.
Edward HirschRead
A person who's only suffering can't write a poem. There are choices to be made, and you need to be objective.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Creativity often stems from a balance of experiences, and one must maintain objectivity to create art.
In this quote, Edward Hirsch suggests that true artistic expression requires more than just personal suffering; it requires a critical distance and the ability to make choices that elevate one's work. Poetic creation demands insight gained from various experiences, which includes not just pain but also joy and reflection, allowing the artist to captivate and connect with others through their work.
Themes
CreativityArtObjectivityExperienceChoices
In practice
Example use cases
In an art workshop, to encourage participants to reflect on their diverse experiences, one might quote Hirsch's words.
More from Edward Hirsch
All quotes βThe commitment to working at poetry is important because a poet is a maker, and a poem is a made thing. We have to honor our feelings by working to transform them into something meaningful and lasting.
Edward HirschRead
As far as I'm concerned, freedom is the most important thing to creativity. You should feel free to write in whatever way, whatever language, feels comfortable to you.
Edward HirschRead
The idea that a poem was a made thing stayed with me, and I decided then that I wanted to be an artist, not just a diarist. So I put myself through a kind of apprenticeship in writing poetry, and I understood even then that my practice as a poet was deeply related to my reading.
Edward HirschRead
And every year there is a brief, startling moment _x000D_ When we pause in the middle of a long walk home and _x000D_ Suddenly feel something invisible and weightless _x000D_ Touching our shoulders, sweeping down from the air: _x000D_ It is the autumn wind pressing against our bodies; _x000D_ It is the changing light of fall falling on us.
Edward HirschRead
When poetry separates from song, then the words have to carry all the rhythm themselves; they have to do all the work. They can't rely on the singing voice.
Edward HirschRead
Similar quotes
That sculpture is more admirable than painting for the reason that it contains relief and painting does not is completely false. ... Rather, how much more admirable the painting must be considered, if having no relief at all, it appears to have as much as sculpture!
Galileo GalileiRead
Forces that you might think are utterly unrelated to creativity can have a big impact. Technology, obviously, but environment, too. Even financial structures can affect the actual content of a song. The making of music is profoundly affected by the market.
David ByrneRead
If you do not breathe through writing, if you do not cry out in writing, or sing in writing, then don't write, because our culture has no use for it.
Anais NinRead
If you can make people understand why freedom is so important through the arts, that would be a big help.
Aung San Suu KyiRead
To ask an author who hopes to be a serious writer if his work is autobiographical is like asking a spider where he buys his thread. The spider gets his thread right out of his own guts, and that is where the author gets his writing.
Robertson DaviesRead
As I grew steadily more comfortable in the kitchen, I found that, much like gardening, most cooking manages to be agreeably absorbing without being too demanding intellectually. It leaves plenty of mental space for daydreaming and reflection.
Michael PollanRead