I am grateful for - though I can't keep up with - the flood of articles, theses, and textbooks that mean to share insight concerning the nature of poetry.

Quote by A R Ammons

I must stress here the point that I appreciate clarity, order, meaning, structure, rationality: they...

I must stress here the point that I appreciate clarity, order, meaning, structure, rationality: they...

If a poem is each time new, then it is necessarily an act of discovery,...

If a poem is each time new, then it is necessarily an act of discovery,...

Is it not careless to become too local when there are four hundred billion stars...

Is it not careless to become too local when there are four hundred billion stars...

Anything looked at closely becomes wonderful.

Anything looked at closely becomes wonderful.

A poem generated by its own laws may be unrealized and bad in terms of...

A poem generated by its own laws may be unrealized and bad in terms of...

Each poem in becoming generates the laws by which it is generated: extensions of the...

Each poem in becoming generates the laws by which it is generated: extensions of the...

There's something to be said in favor of working in isolation in the real world.

There's something to be said in favor of working in isolation in the real world.

If we ask a vague question, such as, 'What is poetry?' we expect a vague...

If we ask a vague question, such as, 'What is poetry?' we expect a vague...

Probably all the attention to poetry results in some value, though the attention is more...

Probably all the attention to poetry results in some value, though the attention is more...

Even if you walk exactly the same route each time - as with a sonnet...

Even if you walk exactly the same route each time - as with a sonnet...

In nature there are few sharp lines.

In nature there are few sharp lines.

You have your identity when you find out, not what you can keep your mind...

You have your identity when you find out, not what you can keep your mind...

Besides the actual reading in class of many poems, I would suggest you do two...

Besides the actual reading in class of many poems, I would suggest you do two...

For though we often need to be restored to the small, concrete, limited, and certain,...

For though we often need to be restored to the small, concrete, limited, and certain,...

Definition, rationality, and structure are ways of seeing, but they become prisons when they blank...

Definition, rationality, and structure are ways of seeing, but they become prisons when they blank...

Once every five hundred years or so, a summary statement about poetry comes along that...

Once every five hundred years or so, a summary statement about poetry comes along that...

I can't tell you where a poem comes from, what it is, or what it...

I can't tell you where a poem comes from, what it is, or what it...