Poetry is a fireplace in summer or a fan in winter.
Robert HassRead
It's hell writing and it's hell not writing. The only tolerable state is having just written.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Writing is a struggle, yet not writing brings its own pain; the only relief comes from having completed the task.
Robert Hass illustrates the inherent difficulties and emotional turmoil associated with the act of writing. He suggests that both the struggle to create and the discomfort of not creating are equally taxing, and the only moment of peace comes after the work is done, highlighting the paradox of the creative process.
Themes
WritingCreativityStruggleCompletionArtistic Process
In practice
Example use cases
A writer sharing their struggles at a literary event.
More from Robert Hass
All quotes βSometimes from this hillside just after sunset The rim of the sky takes on a tinge Of the palest green, like the flesh of a cucumber When you peel it carefully.
Robert HassRead
Take the time to write. You can do your life's work in half an hour a day.
Robert HassRead
I think that the job of poetry, its political job, is to refresh the idea of justice, which is going dead in us all the time.
Robert HassRead
There are moments when the body is as numinous as words, days that are the good flesh continuing. Such tenderness, those afternoons and evenings, saying blackberry, blackberry, blackberry.
Robert HassRead
When I was younger, I was so crazy about poetry that I didn't notice who was noticing. It seemed to me so tremendous and large.
Robert HassRead
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