It's absolutely crucial to maintain my life as a poet.
Edward HirschRead
I aspire to a poetry of great formal integrity, deep passion and high intellect, and I have many models for how to do that.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote expresses a desire for poetry that is both technically skilled and emotionally profound, inspired by various influences.
Edward Hirsch's quote reflects an aspiration for a type of poetry that combines both formal excellence and a deep emotional resonance. He emphasizes the significance of intellectual engagement in crafting poetry while also acknowledging the various influences and models that inspire him to achieve this ideal. This highlights the interconnectedness of technical skill, passion, and thoughtfulness in artistic expression.
Themes
PoetryArtPassionIntellectIntegrity
In practice
Example use cases
During a literary discussion, I would use this quote to highlight the importance of technical skill in poetry.
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
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Each work of art excludes the world, concentrates attention on itself. For the time it is the only thing worth doing -to do just that; be it a sonnet, a statue, a landscape, an outline head of Caesar, or an oration. Presently we return to the sight of another that globes itself into a whole as did the first, for example, a beautiful garden; and nothing seems worth doing in life but laying out a garden.
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead