The pull between sound and syntax creates a kind of musical tension in the language that interests me.

Quote by Marilyn Hacker

Topics: Marilyn Hacker Quotes

Everyone thinks they're going to write one book of poems or one novel.

Everyone thinks they're going to write one book of poems or one novel.

There is something very satisfactory about being in the middle of something.

There is something very satisfactory about being in the middle of something.

I don't know whether a poem has be there to help to develop something. I...

I don't know whether a poem has be there to help to develop something. I...

When you translate poetry in particular, you're obliged to look at how the writer with...

When you translate poetry in particular, you're obliged to look at how the writer with...

Perhaps first and foremost is the challenge of taking what I find as a reader...

Perhaps first and foremost is the challenge of taking what I find as a reader...

Good writing gives energy, whatever it is about.

Good writing gives energy, whatever it is about.

Of the individual poems, some are more lyric and some are more descriptive or narrative....

Of the individual poems, some are more lyric and some are more descriptive or narrative....

Poetry seems to have been eliminated as a literary genre, and installed instead, as a...

Poetry seems to have been eliminated as a literary genre, and installed instead, as a...

The woman poet must be either a sexless, reclusive eccentric, with nothing to say specifically...

The woman poet must be either a sexless, reclusive eccentric, with nothing to say specifically...

The pleasure that I take in writing gets me interested in writing a poem. It's...

The pleasure that I take in writing gets me interested in writing a poem. It's...

Paris is a wonderful city. I can't say I belong to an especially anglophone community.

Paris is a wonderful city. I can't say I belong to an especially anglophone community.

The phenomenon of university creative writing programs doesn't exist in France. The whole idea is...

The phenomenon of university creative writing programs doesn't exist in France. The whole idea is...

Translation makes me look at how a poem is put together in a different way,...

Translation makes me look at how a poem is put together in a different way,...

I don't think it's by accident that I was first attracted to translating two French...

I don't think it's by accident that I was first attracted to translating two French...

Translation is an interestingly different way to be involved both with poetry and with the...

Translation is an interestingly different way to be involved both with poetry and with the...

I think there is something about coming to a city to work that puts you...

I think there is something about coming to a city to work that puts you...

My mother was told she couldn't go to medical school because she was a woman...

My mother was told she couldn't go to medical school because she was a woman...

I've been an inveterate reader of literary magazines since I was a teenager. There are...

I've been an inveterate reader of literary magazines since I was a teenager. There are...

I worked at all kinds of jobs, mostly commercial editing.

I worked at all kinds of jobs, mostly commercial editing.

We sometimes received - and I would read - 200 manuscripts a week. Some of...

We sometimes received - and I would read - 200 manuscripts a week. Some of...