Top 25 Quotes by Mark Strand

I believe that all poetry is formal in that it exists within limits, limits that are either inherited by tradition or limits that language itself imposes.

It's very hard to write humor.

And yet, in a culture like ours, which is given to material comforts, and addicted to forms of entertainment that offer immediate gratification, it is surprising that so much poetry is written.

From the reader's view, a poem is more demanding than prose.

I think the best American poetry is the poetry that utilizes the resources of poetry rather than exploits the defects or triumphs of the poet's personality.

And at least in poetry you should feel free to lie. That is, not to lie, but to imagine what you want, to follow the direction of the poem.

The number of people writing poems is vast, and their reasons for doing so are many, that much can be surmised from the stacks of submissions.

A life is not sufficiently elevated for poetry, unless, of course, the life has been made into an art.

The future is always beginning now.

I would say that American poetry has always been a poetry of personal testimony.