QuoteProject
I know the sag of the unfinished poem. And I know the release of the poem that is finished.
Mary Oliver
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote reflects the emotional journey of creating art, highlighting both the struggle and the satisfaction in completing a work.

Mary Oliver's quote captures the essence of the creative process, acknowledging the feeling of burden that accompanies unfinished work and the profound sense of liberation that arrives with completion. It speaks to the dedication and commitment artists experience, as well as the joy that comes from bringing their vision to fruition.

Themes

ArtCreationProcessCompletionPoetry

In practice

Example use cases

A writer might use this quote during a workshop about overcoming creative blocks.

More from Mary Oliver

I try to be good but sometimes a person just has to break out and act like the wild and springy thing one used to be. It's impossible not to remember wild an want it back.
Mary OliverRead
At the time I was growing up, literature was involved with the so-called confessional poets. And I was not interested in that. I did not think that specific and personal perspective functioned well for the reader at all.
Mary OliverRead
For poems are not words, after all, but fires for the cold, ropes let down to the lost, something as necessary as bread in the pockets of the hungry.
Mary OliverRead
If I have any lasting worth, it will be because I have tried to make people remember what the Earth is meant to look like.
Mary OliverRead
Every day I see or hear something that more or less kills me with delight, that leaves me like a needle in the haystack of light.
Mary OliverRead
The god of dirt came up to me many times and said so many wise and delectable things, I lay on the grass listening to his dog voice, frog voice; now, he said, and now, and never once mentioned forever from, One or Two Things
Mary OliverRead

Similar quotes

There was a beauty in the trash of the alleys which I had never noticed before; my vision seemed sharpened, rather than impaired. As I walked along it seemed to me that the flattened beer cans and papers and weeds and junk mail had been arranged by the wind into patterns; these patterns, when I scrutinized them, lay distributed so as to comprise a visual language.
Philip K. DickRead
Gardening is how I relax. It's another form of creating and playing with colors.
Oscar De La RentaRead
When I was younger, I felt it was my duty to wake people up. I thought poetry was asleep. I thought rock 'n' roll was asleep.
Patti SmithRead
Apropos, is not the Scotch phrase 'Auld Lang Syne' exceedingly expressive? I shall give you the verses on the other sheet. The words of 'Auld Lang Syne' are good, but the music is an old air, the rudiments of the modern tune of that name. ... Dare to be honest and fear no labor. ... Opera is where a man gets stabbed in the back, and instead of dying, he sings. ... Chords that vibrate sweetest pleasure thrill the deepest notes of woe. ... Critics! Those cut-throat bandits in the paths of fame.
Robert BurnsRead
I'm very much of the opinion that theatre is a collective art form, not just one person's vision.
Marianne ElliottRead
Music is an extraordinary vehicle for expressing emotion - very powerful emotions. That's what draws millions of people towards it. And, um, I found myself always going for these darker places and - people identify with that.
Annie LennoxRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.