Poetry is also the physical self of the poet, and it is impossible to separate the poet from his poetry.
Interpretation
Poetry is an expression of the poet's identity, and their work reflects who they are intrinsically.
This quote emphasizes the profound connection between a poet and their poetry, suggesting that a poet's creations are deeply intertwined with their personal essence, experiences, and emotions. It implies that the act of writing poetry is not just a craft but a manifestation of the poet's being, making it essential to appreciate the individual behind the words.
In practice
In a literary discussion about the impact of personal experiences on art, one could use this quote to illustrate the inseparable bond between an artist and their work.
An exact poetic duplication of a man is for the poet a negation of the earth, an impossibility of being, even though his greatest desire is to speak to many men, to unite with them by means of harmonious verses about the truths of the mind or of things.
From the night, his solitude, the poet finds day and starts a diary that is lethal to the inert. The dark landscape yields a dialogue.
Poetry is the revelation of a feeling that the poet believes to be interior and personal but which the reader recognizes as his own.
When I am dancing, it feels like my prayer. It's like an offering. I offer my head back to the dance, I offer my shoulders back to the dance, my elbows, my hands, my spine, my knees, my feet, my whole self, my bones, my blood, my experience, my suffering... I offer it all back to the dance and I say: take it, do whatever you want with me. Release me.
The object, which is back of every true work of art, is the attainment of a state of being, a state of high functioning, a more than ordinary moment of existence. In such moments activity is inevitable, and whether this activity is with brush, pen, chisel, or tongue, its result is but a by-product of the state, a trace, the footprint of the state.
Photographers usually want to photograph facts and things. But I'm interested in the nature of the thing itself. A photograph of someone sleeping tells me nothing about their dream state; a photograph of a corpse tells me nothing about the nature of death. My work is about my life as an event, and I find myself to be very temporal, transient.
An artist must forget painting when he paints. That's the only way he will do original work.
It must be extremely uncomfortable to live with a writer - all that preoccupation and brooding.
Nobody really needs a painting. It's something you kind of create value for in a way that you don't with a company. It's an act of collective faith what an object is worth. Maintaining that value system is part of what a dealer does, not just making a transaction but making sure that important art feels important.
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