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 fire burns as the novel taught it how.

The fire burns as the novel taught it how.

The only emperor is the emperor of ice cream.

The only emperor is the emperor of ice cream.

The summer night is like a perfection of thought.

The summer night is like a perfection of thought.

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...

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,...

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.

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 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.

If poetry should address itself to the same needs and aspirations, the same hopes and...

If poetry should address itself to the same needs and aspirations, the same hopes and...

Style is not something applied. It is something that permeates. It is of the nature...

Style is not something applied. It is something that permeates. It is of the nature...

One's ignorance is one's chief asset.

One's ignorance is one's chief asset.

Most people read poetry listening for echoes because the echoes are familiar to them. They...

Most people read poetry listening for echoes because the echoes are familiar to them. They...

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.

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...

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...

Perhaps the truth depends on a walk around the lake.

Perhaps the truth depends on a walk around the lake.

One cannot spend one's time in being modern when there are so many more important...

One cannot spend one's time in being modern when there are so many more important...

There is truth in the reply of a great lawyer when asked how the lawyers...

There is truth in the reply of a great lawyer when asked how the lawyers...

Sunday: A day given over by Americans to wishing that they themselves were dead and...

Sunday: A day given over by Americans to wishing that they themselves were dead and...

No event in American history is more misunderstood than the Vietnam War. It was misreported...

No event in American history is more misunderstood than the Vietnam War. It was misreported...

There is nothing new in the realization that the Constitution sometimes insulates the criminality of...

There is nothing new in the realization that the Constitution sometimes insulates the criminality of...

A state is better governed which has few laws, and those laws strictly observed

A state is better governed which has few laws, and those laws strictly observed

How dreadful knowledge of the truth can be when there's no help in the truth.

How dreadful knowledge of the truth can be when there's no help in the truth.