For I now realize that what overcame me that evening was a sudden awareness of the power of intuition, the supra-logic that cuts out all routine processes of thought and leaps straight from problem to answer.
Robert GravesRead
Poetry began in the matriarchal age, and derives its magic from the moon, not from the sun. No poet can hope to understand the nature of poetry unless he has had a vision of the Naked King crucified to the lopped oak, and watched the dancers, red-eyed from the acrid smoke of the sacrificial fires, stamping out the measure of the dance, their bodies bent uncouthly forward, with a monotonous chant of "Kill! kill! kill!" and "Blood! blood! blood!
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that poetry has deep, often dark roots tied to ancient and primal themes rather than superficial or bright inspirations.
Robert Graves's quote emphasizes the complex and sometimes grim origins of poetry, rooted in the matriarchal age and the mystical connection to nature, particularly the moon. It implies that true understanding of poetry comes from experiencing raw, visceral emotions and the darker aspects of human existence, rather than more conventional or uplifting inspirations.
Themes
PoetryArtEmotionNatureSacrificeDarkness
In practice
Example use cases
During a poetry reading, one could reference this quote to highlight the deep connection between poetry and primal human emotions.
More from Robert Graves
All quotes →To recommend a monarchy on account of the prosperity it gives the provinces seems to me like recommending that a man should have liberty to treat his children as slaves, if at the same time he treats his slaves with reasonable consideration.
Robert GravesRead
A banker warned the British poet Robert Graves that one could not grow rich writing poetry. He replied that if there was no money in poetry, there was certainly no poetry in money, and so it was all even.
Robert GravesRead
No poem is worth anything unless it starts from a poetic trance, out of which you can be wakened by interruption as from a dream. In fact, it is the same thing.
Robert GravesRead
Never use the word 'audience.' The very idea of a public, unless the poet is writing for money, seems wrong to me. Poets don't have an 'audience'. They're talking to a single person all the time.
Robert GravesRead
Before an attack, the platoon pools all its available cash and the survivors divide it up afterwards. Those who are killed can't complain, the wounded would have given far more than that to escape as they have, and the unwounded regard the money as a consolation prize for still being here.
Robert GravesRead
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