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A poet's work is to name the unnamable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world, and stop it going to sleep.
Salman Rushdie
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Poets give voice to the unexpressed and challenge societal norms through their art.

This quote emphasizes the integral role of a poet as a catalyst for social awareness and change. By giving names to the unnamable aspects of human experience, poets confront deception, provoke discussions, and strive to inspire action, ensuring that society remains awake to its truths and challenges.

Themes

PoetArtTruthSocietyAwareness

In practice

Example use cases

During a poetry reading, this quote could be shared to illustrate the power of poetry.

More from Salman Rushdie

I've been fascinated by Machiavelli since I was very young. I've always felt that he had a bad rap from history, and that he was actually a person quite unlike what we now think of as Machiavellian. He was a republican. He disliked totalitarian government.
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Killing people because you don't like their ideas - it's a bad thing.
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faith without doubt is addiction
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I am clearly vulnerable to these more passionate and volatile unstable relationships. I am trying to not be so vulnerable.
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In India, as elsewhere in our darkening world, religion is the poison in the blood. Where religion intervenes, mere innocence is no excuse. Yet we go on skating around this issue, speaking of religion in the fashionable language of 'respect.' What is there to respect in any of this, or in any of the crimes now being committed almost daily around the world in religion's dreaded name?
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Reality is a question of perspective; the further you get from the past, the more concrete and plausible it seems - but as you approach the present, it inevitably seems more and more incredible.
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I cannot conceive of music that expresses absolutely nothing.
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