What is a Sonnet? 'Tis the pearly shell
That murmurs of the far-off, murmuring sea;
A precious read more

What is a Sonnet? 'Tis the pearly shell
That murmurs of the far-off, murmuring sea;
A precious jewel carved most curiously;
It is a little picture painted well.
What is a Sonnet? 'Tis the tear that fell
From a great poet's hidden ecstasy;
A two-edged sword, a star, a song--ah me!
Sometimes a heavy tolling funeral bell.

All bad poetry springs from genuine feeling.

All bad poetry springs from genuine feeling.

Poetry is a way of taking life by the throat.

Poetry is a way of taking life by the throat.

Poetry is finer and more philosophical than history; for poetry expresses the universal, and history only the particular.

Poetry is finer and more philosophical than history; for poetry expresses the universal, and history only the particular.

For it is not metres, but a metre-making argument that makes a
poem.

For it is not metres, but a metre-making argument that makes a
poem.

Poetry teaches us music, metaphor, condensation
and specificity.

Poetry teaches us music, metaphor, condensation
and specificity.

A poet is a man who manages, in a lifetime of standing out in thunderstorms, to be struck by lightning read more

A poet is a man who manages, in a lifetime of standing out in thunderstorms, to be struck by lightning five or six times.

Writing a poem is discovering

Writing a poem is discovering

Oh love will make a dog howl in rhyme.

Oh love will make a dog howl in rhyme.