Beauty is the sole legitimate province of the poem.
The poem may be said to have its beginning – at the end, where all works of art should begin.
The monotony of a long heroic poem may often be pleasantly relieved by judicious interruptions in the perfect successions of rhymes, just as the metre may sometimes be adorned with occasional triplets and Alexandrines.
It is raining. I am tempted to write a poem. But I remember what it said on one rejection slip: After a heavy rainfall, poems titled RAIN pour in from across the nation.
I would venture to guess that Anon, who wrote so many poems without signing them, was often a woman.[Very often misquoted as:] For most of history, Anonymous was a woman.
And your very flesh shall be a great poem.
A poem deserves its title only inasmuch as it excites, by elevating the soul.
A long poem is a test of invention which I take to be the Polar star of poetry, as fancy is the sails, and imagination the rudder.
