But most commonly, it's one poem that I work on with a lot of intensity.
Philip LevineRead
Meet some people who care about poetry the way you do. You'll have that readership. Keep going until you know you're doing work that's worthy. And then see what happens. That's my advice.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Surround yourself with like-minded individuals who share your passion for poetry, and persist in your craft until you create meaningful work.
In this quote, Philip Levine emphasizes the importance of connecting with others who share your love for poetry. He advises poets to strive for authenticity and quality in their own work, encouraging them to continue honing their craft until they produce pieces that they can be proud of, regardless of the external validation they may receive. Ultimately, this approach may lead to unexpected success and appreciation for their art.
Themes
PoetryPassionAuthenticityCraftReadership
In practice
Example use cases
A mentor sharing these words with a budding poet at a workshop.
More from Philip Levine
All quotes →I'm afraid we live at the mercy of a power, maybe a God, without mercy. And yet we find it, as I have, from others.
Philip LevineRead
It's ironic that while I was a worker in Detroit, which I left when I was twenty six, my sense was that the thing that's going to stop me from being a poet is the fact that I'm doing this crummy work.
Philip LevineRead
If that voice that you created that is most alive in the poem isn't carried throughout the whole poem, then I destroy where it's not there, and I reconstruct it so that that voice is the dominant voice in the poem.
Philip LevineRead
I'm saying look, here they come, pay attention. Let your eyes transform what appears ordinary, commonplace, into what it is, a moment in time, an observed fragment of eternity.
Philip LevineRead
Now I think poetry will save nothing from oblivion, but I keep writing about the ordinary because for me it's the home of the extraordinary, the only home.
Philip LevineRead
Similar quotes
For myself, I always write about Dublin, because if I can get to the heart of Dublin I can get to the heart of all the cities of the world. In the particular is contained the universal.
James JoyceRead
While all the other kids were out playing ball and stuff, I used to stay in my room and imagine that there was a camera in the wall. And I used to really believe that I was putting on a television show and that it was going out to somewhere in the world.
Andy KaufmanRead
The photographer must bear the responsibility for his work and its effect …[for] photographic journalism, because of its tremendous audience reached by publications using it, has more influence on public thinking than any other branch of photography.
W. Eugene SmithRead
What I try to do is defy expectations in terms of boundaries, whether it is high or low art, pop culture, or fine-art culture. My work is about reconciling myriad cultural influences and bringing them into one picture.
Kehinde WileyRead
I'd have been a filmmaker or a cartoonist or something else which extended from the visual arts into the making of narratives if I hadn't been able to shift into fiction.
Jonathan LethemRead
Creation is in part merely the business of forgoing the great and small distractions.
E. B. WhiteRead