Poetry is a street fighter. It has sharp elbows. It can look after itself. Poetry can't be used for manipulation; it's why you never see good poetry in advertising.
David WhyteRead
By definition, poetry works with qualities and dynamics that mainstream society is reluctant to face head-on. It's an interesting phenomenon that by necessity, poetry is just below the radar.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Poetry delves into complex emotions and truths that society often avoids, existing subtly in the background rather than in the spotlight.
David Whyte's quote highlights the nature of poetry as an art form that engages with deep and often challenging human experiences and emotions that are frequently overlooked or avoided by mainstream culture. He suggests that poetry operates in a realm that is less visible, yet it possesses profound significance, prompting reflection on the complexities of the human condition that are not usually confronted directly.
Themes
PoetrySocietyTruthArtHuman Experience
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of art in education, one might say, 'As David Whyte suggested, poetry uncovers truths that are often hidden by society's preferences.'
More from David Whyte
All quotes βPoetry is often the art of overhearing yourself say things you didn't know you knew. It is a learned skill to force yourself to articulate your life, your present world or your possibilities for the future.
David WhyteRead
The price of our vitality is the sum of all our fears
David WhyteRead
The severest test of work today, is not of our strategies, but of our imaginations and identities.
David WhyteRead
We learn, grow and become compassionate and generous as much through exile as homecoming, as much through loss as gain, as much through giving things away as in receiving what we believe to be our due.
David WhyteRead
What if the world is holding its breath - _x000D_ waiting for you to take the place that only you can fill?
David WhyteRead
Similar quotes
I still feel like I have a lot to learn in the realm of sound experimentation, and I think I would like things to get noisier and weirder and more distressed and more aggressive, but I don't know if that's something that would be suitable for public consumption.
Sufjan StevensRead
A 90-minute time frame is not long enough to tell a good female story, and that's why long-format television has become so great for female storytelling and for female performers and directors and writers.
Frances McdormandRead
The passion for art is, as for believers, very religious. It unites people, its message is of common humanity. Art has become my religion - others pray in church. It's a banality, but you don't possess art, it possesses you. It's like falling in love.
Francois PinaultRead
Art is a never-ending dance of illusions.
Bob DylanRead
Every man, and for stronger reasons, every artist, wants to be recognized. So do I.
Albert CamusRead
I saw the Vietnam Veterans Memorial not as an object placed into the earth but as a cut in the earth that has then been polished, like a geode.
Maya LinRead