Poets are being pursued by the philosophers today, out of the poverty of philosophy. God damn it, you might think a man had no business to be writing, to be a poet unless some philosophic stinker gave him permission.
William Carlos WilliamsRead
Poetry demands a different material than prose. It uses another facet of the same fact... the spontaneous conformation of language as it is heard.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Poetry and prose differ in their use of language and expressiveness, with poetry capturing the essence of language as it resonates with the reader.
In this quote, William Carlos Williams emphasizes the distinct nature of poetry compared to prose. He suggests that poetry requires a unique approach to language, utilizing its auditory qualities and emotional impact to convey meaning in a way that prose cannot. By declaring that poetry engages with the spontaneous nature of language as it is perceived, he highlights the art form's ability to evoke feelings and thoughts through its rhythmic and musical qualities.
Themes
PoetryLanguageProseArtExpression
In practice
Example use cases
During a literature class, this quote could be used to spark discussion on the differences between poetic and prose forms.
More from William Carlos Williams
All quotes →For the beginning is assuredly the end- since we know nothing, pure and simple, beyond our own complexities.
William Carlos WilliamsRead
It was the love of love, the love of swallows up all else, a grateful love, a love of natural, of people, of animals, a love ingengering gentleness and goodness that moved meand that I saw in you
William Carlos WilliamsRead
O frost bitten blossoms, That are unfolding your wings From out the envious black branches. Bloom quickly and make much of the sunshine. The twigs conspire against you! Hear hem! They hold you from behind.
William Carlos WilliamsRead
No opinion can be trusted; even the facts may be nothing but a printer's error.
William Carlos WilliamsRead
It is almost impossible to state what one in fact believes, because it is almost impossible to hold a belief and to define it at the same time.
William Carlos WilliamsRead
Similar quotes
I want to photograph the considerable ceremonies of our present. I want to gather them, like somebody's grandmother putting up preserves, because they will have been so beautiful.
Diane ArbusRead
My body is damaged from music in two ways. I have a red irritation in my stomach. It's psychosomatic, caused by all the anger and the screaming. I have scoliosis, where the curvature of your spine is bent, and the weight of my guitar has made it worse. I'm always in pain, and that adds to the anger in our music.
Kurt CobainRead
A girl’s got to use what she’s given and I’m not going to make a guy drool the way a Britney video does. So I take it to extremes. I don’t say I dress sexily on stage - what I do is so extreme. It’s meant to make guys think: ‘I don’t know if this is sexy or just weird.
Lady GagaRead
Jazz, to me, is one of the inherent expressions of Negro life in America: the eternal tom-tom beating in the Negro soul - the tom-tom of revolt against weariness in a white world, a world of subway trains, and work, work, work; the tom-tom of joy and laughter, and pain swallowed in a smile.
Langston HughesRead
Drink wine, drink poetry, drink virtue.
Charles BaudelaireRead
I wish the stage were as narrow as the wire of a tighrope dancer so that no incompetent would dare step upon it.
Johann Wolfgang Von GoetheRead