A poet is a man who manages, in a lifetime of standing out in thunderstorms, to be struck by lightning five or six times. Randall Jarrell lifetimelightningman Change image and share on social
A poet is a man who puts up a ladder to a star and climbs it while playing a violin. Edmond de Goncourt climbladderman Change image and share on social
A poet is a nightingale, who sits in darkness and sings to cheer its own solitude with sweet sounds. Percy Bysshe Shelley cheerdarknessnightingale Change image and share on social
A poet is never one of the people. He is detached, remote, and the life of small-time dances and talk about football would not be for him. He might take part but could not belong. Patrick Kavanagh belongdancedetach Change image and share on social
A poet is someone who stands outside in the rain hoping to be struck by lightning. James Dickey hopelightningpoet Change image and share on social
A poet must be a psychologist, but a secret one: he should know and feel the roots of phenomena but present only the phenomena themselves in full bloom or as they fade away. Ivan Turgenev bloomfadefeel Change image and share on social
A poet must leave traces of his passage, not proof. Rene Char leavepassagepoet Change image and share on social
A poet never takes notes. You never take notes in a love affair. Robert Frost affairlovenote Change image and share on social
A poet or prose narrator usually looks back on what he has achieved against a backdrop of the years that have passed, generally finding that some of these achievements are acceptable, while others are less so. Eyvind Johnson acceptableachieveachievement share on social
A poet ought not to pick nature's pocket. Let him borrow, and so borrow as to repay by the very act of borrowing. Examine nature accurately, but write from recollection, and trust more to the imagination than the memory. Samuel Taylor Coleridge accuratelyactborrow share on social