I didn't read poetry seriously until college, when I really began to devour it in a very intense way. I also discovered that a poet is a maker. Before that, I thought a poet was someone who wrote about his own experiences. Edward Hirsch begincollegedevour share on social
There have always been great defenses of poetry, and I've tried to write mine, and I think all of my work and criticism is a defense of poetry to try and keep something alive in poetry. Edward Hirsch alivecriticismdefense Change image and share on social
When I was young, I wrote everything, and I thought I would be an all around writer, that I would write everything. Edward Hirsch thinkwritewriter Change image and share on social
It's very important to me to be an American poet, a Jewish poet, a poet who came of age in the 1960s. Edward Hirsch 1960sageamerican Change image and share on social
I began to imitate what I was reading, and I started to become a poet, even though what I was writing were not good poems. Edward Hirsch begingoodimitate Change image and share on social
Poets have always celebrated grief as one of the deepest human emotions. Edward Hirsch celebratedeepemotion Change image and share on social
There's something really unnatural about losing a child, and there's something unnatural about having to write an elegy for your child, but I felt that I wanted people to know what he was like. Edward Hirsch childelegyfelt Change image and share on social
Daydreaming is one of the key sources of poetry - a poem often starts as a daydream that finds its way into language - and walking seems to bring a different sort of alertness, an associative kind of thinking, a drifting state of mind. Edward Hirsch alertnessassociativebring share on social
I'm a poet, and I spent my life in poetry. Edward Hirsch lifepoetpoetry Change image and share on social
There's never been a culture without poetry in the history of the world. Edward Hirsch culturehistorypoetry Change image and share on social
