Death is the sound of distant thunder at a picnic.
W. H. AudenRead
A poet is a professional maker of verbal objects.
Interpretation
What this quote means
A poet creates language that is crafted with care and intention.
W. H. Auden's quote highlights the artistry involved in poetry, suggesting that poets are skilled creators who construct meaningful and impactful expressions through words. This emphasizes the idea that poetry is not merely about writing but about the careful crafting of language to evoke feelings, imagery, and thoughts in a structured form.
Themes
PoetCreationLanguageArtistryVerbalCraft
In practice
Example use cases
During a workshop on creative writing, I shared this quote to inspire budding poets to see their craft as a profession.
More from W. H. Auden
All quotes βThat the speech of self-disclosure should be translatable seems to me very odd, but I am convinced that it is. The conclusion that I draw is that the only quality which all human being without exception possess is uniqueness: any characteristic, on the other hand, which one individual can be recognized as having in common with another, like red hair or the English language, implies the existence of other individual qualities which this classification excludes.
W. H. AudenRead
Nobody knows what the cause is, though some pretend they do; it like some hidden assassin waiting to strike at you. Childless women get it, and men when they retire; it as if there had to be some outlet for their foiled creative fire.
W. H. AudenRead
History is, strictly speaking, the study of questions; the study of answers belongs to anthropology and sociology.
W. H. AudenRead
Music is the best means we have of digesting time.
W. H. AudenRead
'Healing,' Papa would tell me, 'is not a science, but the intuitive art of wooing nature.'
W. H. AudenRead
Similar quotes
The first thing you have to get used to in any kind of acting is the ability to make a fool of yourself. If you haven't learnt how to make a fool of yourself, you shouldn't be on the boards. That's absolutely what it's all about.
John HurtRead
No good to paint in the head - what happens is what happens when you put the paint down - you can only hope that you are alert - ready - to see. What joy it is for paint to become a thing - a being. Believe in this miracle - it is your only hope. To will this transformation is not possible. Only a slow maturation can prepare the hand and eye to become quicker than ever. Ideas about art don't matter. They collapse anyway in front of the painting.
Philip GustonRead
Meeting authors is kind of the death of the characters. That is always heartbreaking.
Chuck PalahniukRead
Poetry is not an expression of the party line. It's that time of night, lying in bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, that's what the poet does.
Allen GinsbergRead
'The Satanic Verses' was denied the ordinary life of a novel. It became something smaller and uglier: an insult.
Salman RushdieRead
To me, music shouldn't be ego-driven. When you go out on stage and play songs, it is. But when you're sitting in a room, writing songs, it's a completely different process. It's a completely different place. It's a creative place, a musical place. It has nothing to do with who likes what.
Chris CornellRead