"that willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith

I wish our clever young poets would remember my homely definitions of prose and poetry that is prose - words in their best order poetry - the best words in their best order.
~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge ~












I wish our clever young poets would remember my homely definitions of prose and poetry that is pro...
Show MoreMore Samuel Taylor Coleridge quotes
"Poetry: the best words in the best order.
"Sir, I admit your general rule, That every poet is a fool, But you yourself may serve to show it, That every fool is not a poet.
"No man was ever yet a great poet, without at the same time being a profound philosopher.
"In poems, equally as in philosophic disquisitions, genius produces the strongest impressions of novelty while it rescues the most admitted truths from...
"The one red leaf, the last of its clan,That dances as often as dance it can,Hanging so light, and hanging so high,On the topmost twig that looks up at...
"Then all the charm Is broken--all that phantom-world so fair Vanishes, and a thousand circlets spread, And each mis-shape the other.
"Where Alph, the sacred river, ran Through caverns measureless to man Down to a sunless sea.
"A savage place! as holy and enchanted As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted By woman wailing for her demon-lover!
"Where true Love burns Desire is Love's pure flame;It is the reflex of our earthly frame,That takes its meaning from the nobler part,And but translates...
"To be loved is all I need, And whom I love, I love indeed.
"In Xanadu did Kubla KhanA stately pleasure-dome decree:Where Alph, the sacred river, ranThrough caverns measureless to man Down to a sunless sea.
"But yester-night I prayed aloud In anguish and in agony, Up-starting from the fiendish crowd Of shapes and thoughts that tortured me: A lurid light, a...
"What if you slept And what if In your sleep You dreamed And what if In your dream You went to heaven And there plucked a strange and beautiful flower ...
"Alone, alone, all, all alone, Alone on a wide wide sea! And never a saint took pity on My soul in agony.