What actually makes poetry poetry is of course impossible to define. We recognize it when we hear it, when we see it, but we can't define it.

Quote by Robert Morgan

Topics: Robert Morgan Quotes

Distance not only gives nostalgia, but perspective, and maybe objectivity.

Distance not only gives nostalgia, but perspective, and maybe objectivity.

The idea of avant-garde art is a very suspicious thing to me, the idea that...

The idea of avant-garde art is a very suspicious thing to me, the idea that...

I don't think poetry is something that can be taught. We can encourage young writers,...

I don't think poetry is something that can be taught. We can encourage young writers,...

Neither of my parents has been very sensitive about my writing.

Neither of my parents has been very sensitive about my writing.

The Language Poets are writing only about language itself. The Ashbery poets are writing only...

The Language Poets are writing only about language itself. The Ashbery poets are writing only...

I don't think American poetry has gotten any better in the past 35 years. Oddly...

I don't think American poetry has gotten any better in the past 35 years. Oddly...

I considered going to film school; I took a course in film and was very...

I considered going to film school; I took a course in film and was very...

A poem in form still has to have voice, gesture, a sense of discovery, a...

A poem in form still has to have voice, gesture, a sense of discovery, a...

One of the most powerful devices is to distort time, to go from human time...

One of the most powerful devices is to distort time, to go from human time...

If people associate me with a region, that's fine with me.

If people associate me with a region, that's fine with me.

With prose you can incorporate more details, develop scenes, sustain the tension in a special...

With prose you can incorporate more details, develop scenes, sustain the tension in a special...

I have taught students from the New York City area so long I have a...

I have taught students from the New York City area so long I have a...

The Black Mountain poet I like most is the early Creeley. Those early poems seem...

The Black Mountain poet I like most is the early Creeley. Those early poems seem...

Southern poets are still writing narrative poems, poems in forms, dramatic poems.

Southern poets are still writing narrative poems, poems in forms, dramatic poems.

Our most famous writers are Faulkner and Eudora Welty and Flannery O'Connor. It would make...

Our most famous writers are Faulkner and Eudora Welty and Flannery O'Connor. It would make...

I tell students they will know they are getting somewhere when a scene is so...

I tell students they will know they are getting somewhere when a scene is so...

The great watershed of modern poetry is French, more than English.

The great watershed of modern poetry is French, more than English.

The decision to write in prose instead of poetry is made more by the readers...

The decision to write in prose instead of poetry is made more by the readers...

I seem to keep returning to my father in poems because his personality was so...

I seem to keep returning to my father in poems because his personality was so...

I did not have a very literary background. I came to poetry from the sciences...

I did not have a very literary background. I came to poetry from the sciences...