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words...To lure the tribal shoals to epigram / And order.

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If poetry and the arts do anything, they can fortify your inner life, your inwardness.

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There is risk and truth to yourselves and the world before you.

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I suppose I'm saying that defiance is actually part of the lyric job

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All I know is a door into the dark

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The fact of the matter is that the most unexpected and miraculous thing in my life was the arrival in it of poetry itself - as a vocation and an eleva...more

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In a war situation or where violence and injustice are prevalent, poetry is called upon to be something more than a thing of beauty.

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History says, Don’t hopeOn this side of the grave,But then, once in a lifetimeThe longed-for tidal waveOf justice can rise up,And hope and history rhy...more

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I can't think of a case where poems changed the world, but what they do is they change people's understanding of what's going on in the world.

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He sits, strong and blunt as a Celtic cross, Clearly used to silence and an armchair: Tonight the wife and children will be quiet At slammed door and ...more

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Since when," he asked,"Are the first line and last line of any poemWhere the poem begins and ends?

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The way we are living,timorous or bold,will have been our life.

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In fact, in lyric poetry, truthfulness becomes recognizable as a ring of truth within the medium itself.

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I rhymeTo see myself, to set the darkness echoing.

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If you have the words, there's always a chance that you'll find the way.