The poet is never inspired, because he is the master of that which appears to others as inspiration. He does not wait for inspiration to fall out of the heavens like roasted ortolans. He knows how to hunt...He is never inspired because he is unceasingly inspired, because the powers of poetry are always at his disposition, subjected to his will, submissive to his own activity.
Interpretation
The poet actively creates rather than passively waiting for inspiration.
This quote suggests that true poets do not rely on sudden bursts of creativity or inspiration from outside themselves; instead, they possess the skill and discipline to summon poetic ideas at will. It emphasizes the idea that artistry is not just about receiving inspiration, but about mastering the craft and engaging in a continuous, proactive process of creation.
In practice
This quote is perfect for a poetry workshop to emphasize discipline in writing.
To create anything — whether a short story or a magazine profile or a film or a sitcom — is to believe, if only momentarily, you are capable of magic. These essays are about that magic — which is sometimes perilous, sometimes infectious, sometimes fragile, sometimes failed, sometimes infuriating, sometimes triumphant, and sometimes tragic. I went up there. I wrote. I tried to see.
I haven't found a drug yet that can get you anywhere near as high as a sitting at a desk writing, trying to imagine a story no matter how bizarre it is, [or] going out and getting into the weirdness of reality and doing a little time on the Proud Highway.
As authors evolve and try to trace the precedents that have shaped their work, it sometimes becomes a matter of identifying the shadowy figure in the back row of the mental photograph, or of grabbing at the tail of a memory that's just slipping out the window into thin air.
Create, and be true to yourself, and depend only on your own good taste.
A poet's work is to name the unnameable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world, and stop it going to sleep.
The effects of good music are not just because it's new; on the contrary music strikes us more the more familiar we are with it.
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