Most people read poetry listening for echoes because the echoes are familiar to them. They wade through it the way a boy wades through water, feeling with his toes for the bottom: The echoes are the bottom.

Quote by Wallace Stevens

Topics: Poetry Quotes, Reading Quotes

The way through the world is more difficult to find than the way beyond it.

The way through the world is more difficult to find than the way beyond it.

The reason can give nothing at all Like the response to desire.

The reason can give nothing at all Like the response to desire.

Thought is an infection. In the case of certain thoughts, it becomes an epidemic.

Thought is an infection. In the case of certain thoughts, it becomes an epidemic.

The most beautiful thing in the world is, of course, the world itself.

The most beautiful thing in the world is, of course, the world itself.

A poem need not have a meaning and like most things in nature often does...

A poem need not have a meaning and like most things in nature often does...

What our eyes behold may well be the text of life but one's meditations on...

What our eyes behold may well be the text of life but one's meditations on...

Our bloom is gone. We are the fruit thereof.

Our bloom is gone. We are the fruit thereof.

Perhaps it is of more value to infuriate philosophers than to go along with them.

Perhaps it is of more value to infuriate philosophers than to go along with them.

The day of the sun is like the day of a king. It is a...

The day of the sun is like the day of a king. It is a...

In poetry, you must love the words, the ideas and the images and rhythms with...

In poetry, you must love the words, the ideas and the images and rhythms with...

In the world of words, the imagination is one of the forces of nature.

In the world of words, the imagination is one of the forces of nature.

I do not know which to prefer, The beauty of inflections, Or the beauty of...

I do not know which to prefer, The beauty of inflections, Or the beauty of...

Money is a kind of poetry.

Money is a kind of poetry.

Nothing could be more inappropriate to American literature than its English source since the Americans...

Nothing could be more inappropriate to American literature than its English source since the Americans...

If some really acute observer made as much of egotism as Freud has made of...

If some really acute observer made as much of egotism as Freud has made of...

To regard the imagination as metaphysics is to think of it as part of life,...

To regard the imagination as metaphysics is to think of it as part of life,...

Death is the mother of Beauty; hence from her, alone, shall come fulfillment to our...

Death is the mother of Beauty; hence from her, alone, shall come fulfillment to our...

New York is a field of tireless and antagonistic interests undoubtedly fascinating but horribly unreal....

New York is a field of tireless and antagonistic interests undoubtedly fascinating but horribly unreal....

The genuine artist is never rue to life. He sees what is real, but not...

The genuine artist is never rue to life. He sees what is real, but not...

The poet is the priest of the invisible.

The poet is the priest of the invisible.