It's absolutely crucial to maintain my life as a poet.
Edward HirschRead
I'm a poet, and I spent my life in poetry.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote expresses a deep commitment to poetry as a lifelong pursuit.
Edward Hirsch's quote reflects the essence of dedicating one's life to the art of poetry. It suggests that poetry is not just a profession or hobby for Hirsch but a fundamental aspect of his identity and existence, highlighting the power of artistic expression in shaping one's life and worldview.
Themes
PoetPoetryLifeArtDedication
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech at a literary festival to inspire young writers.
More from Edward Hirsch
All quotes βThe commitment to working at poetry is important because a poet is a maker, and a poem is a made thing. We have to honor our feelings by working to transform them into something meaningful and lasting.
Edward HirschRead
As far as I'm concerned, freedom is the most important thing to creativity. You should feel free to write in whatever way, whatever language, feels comfortable to you.
Edward HirschRead
The idea that a poem was a made thing stayed with me, and I decided then that I wanted to be an artist, not just a diarist. So I put myself through a kind of apprenticeship in writing poetry, and I understood even then that my practice as a poet was deeply related to my reading.
Edward HirschRead
And every year there is a brief, startling moment _x000D_ When we pause in the middle of a long walk home and _x000D_ Suddenly feel something invisible and weightless _x000D_ Touching our shoulders, sweeping down from the air: _x000D_ It is the autumn wind pressing against our bodies; _x000D_ It is the changing light of fall falling on us.
Edward HirschRead
When poetry separates from song, then the words have to carry all the rhythm themselves; they have to do all the work. They can't rely on the singing voice.
Edward HirschRead
Similar quotes
I am imbued with the notion that a Muse is necessarily a dead woman, inaccessible or absent; that a poetic structure - like the canon, which is only a hole surrounded by steel - can be based only on what one does not have; and that ultimately one can write only to fill a void or at the least to situate, in relation to the most lucid part of ourselves, the place where this incommensurable abyss yawns within us.
Michel LeirisRead
Elysian beauty, melancholy grace, Brought from a pensive though a happy place.
William WordsworthRead
My photographs are proof of what happened. When I go to Russia, sometimes I meet ex-soldiers... They say, 'We came to liberate you....' I say: 'Listen, I think it was quite different. I saw people being killed.' They say: 'No. We never... no shooting. No. No.' So I can show them my Prague 1968 photographs and say, 'Listen, these are my pictures. I was there.' And they have to believe me.
Josef KoudelkaRead
Music is the best means we have of digesting time.
W. H. AudenRead
Everything comes out in blues music: joy , pain , struggle . Blues is affirmation with absolute elegance.
Wynton MarsalisRead
I would have to think about it for two or three months before I decided to do something which would have meaning. And it would have to be more than just an impression or pleasure. I would need an objective, a meaning. That is the only thing that could help me.
Marcel DuchampRead