Author: John Drinkwater

Quotes

When the poet makes his perfect selection of a word, he is endowing the word with life.

When the poet makes his perfect selection of a word, he is endowing the word with life.

- John Drinkwater

It should here be added that poetry habitually takes the form of verse.

It should here be added that poetry habitually takes the form of verse.

- John Drinkwater

The poet's perfect expression is the token of a perfect experience; what he says in the best possible way he has felt in the best possible way, that is, completely.

The poet's perfect expression is the token of a perfect experience; what he says in the best possible way he has felt in the best possible way, that is, completely.

- John Drinkwater

Great men are rare, poets are rarer, but the great man who is a poet, transfiguring his greatness, is the rarest of all events.

Great men are rare, poets are rarer, but the great man who is a poet, transfiguring his greatness, is the rarest of all events.

- John Drinkwater

But in the finished art of the song the use of words has no connection with the use of words in poetry.

But in the finished art of the song the use of words has no connection with the use of words in poetry.

- John Drinkwater

If it is an imperfect word, no external circumstance can heighten its value as poetry.

If it is an imperfect word, no external circumstance can heighten its value as poetry.

- John Drinkwater

For while the subjects of poetry are few and recurrent, the moods of man are infinitely various and unstable. It is the same in all arts.

For while the subjects of poetry are few and recurrent, the moods of man are infinitely various and unstable. It is the same in all arts.

- John Drinkwater

There can be no proof that Blake's lyric is composed of the best words in the best order; only a conviction, accepted by our knowledge and judgment, that it is so.

There can be no proof that Blake's lyric is composed of the best words in the best order; only a conviction, accepted by our knowledge and judgment, that it is so.

- John Drinkwater

To know anything of a poet but his poetry is, so far as the poetry is concerned, to know something that may be entertaining, even delightful, but is certainly inessential.

To know anything of a poet but his poetry is, so far as the poetry is concerned, to know something that may be entertaining, even delightful, but is certainly inessential.

- John Drinkwater

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