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Poetry: the best words in the best order.

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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.

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No man was ever yet a great poet, without at the same time being a profound philosopher.

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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 ...more

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In poems, equally as in philosophic disquisitions, genius produces the strongest impressions of novelty while it rescues the most admitted truths from...more

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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...more

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Then all the charm Is broken--all that phantom-world so fair Vanishes, and a thousand circlets spread, And each mis-shape the other.

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Where Alph, the sacred river, ran Through caverns measureless to man Down to a sunless sea.

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A savage place! as holy and enchanted As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted By woman wailing for her demon-lover!

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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...more

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To be loved is all I need, And whom I love, I love indeed.

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In Xanadu did Kubla KhanA stately pleasure-dome decree:Where Alph, the sacred river, ranThrough caverns measureless to man Down to a sunless sea.

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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...more

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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 ...more

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Alone, alone, all, all alone, Alone on a wide wide sea! And never a saint took pity on My soul in agony.