Poetry is powerful. It’s among the most creative forms of self-expression. The message shared between the writer and reader can range from fun and playful to profound and intimate, even when communicated with just a few short words. We’ve put together this list of poetry quotes that beautifully capture why poems mean so much to so many!
Quotes About Poetry as Language
Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history. —Plato
![Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history. —Plato- poetry quotes](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/1-24-800x800.jpg)
You can find poetry in your everyday life, your memory, in what people say on the bus, in the news, or just what’s in your heart. —Carol Ann Duffy
![You can find poetry in your everyday life, your memory, in what people say on the bus, in the news, or just what’s in your heart. —Carol Ann Duffy](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/2-19-800x800.jpg)
Poetry is language at its most distilled and most powerful. —Rita Dove
![Poetry is language at its most distilled and most powerful. —Rita Dove](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/3-21-800x800.jpg)
Poetry is one of the ancient arts, and it begins as did all the fine arts, within the original wilderness of the earth. —Mary Oliver
![Poetry is one of the ancient arts, and it begins as did all the fine arts, within the original wilderness of the earth. —Mary Oliver- poetry quotes](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/4-18-800x800.jpg)
Everything you invent is true: You can be sure of that. Poetry is a subject as precise as geometry. —Julian Barnes
![Everything you invent is true: You can be sure of that. Poetry is a subject as precise as geometry. —Julian Barnes](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/5-18-800x800.jpg)
“Therefore” is a word the poet must not know. —Andre Gide
!["Therefore" is a word the poet must not know. —Andre Gide](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/6-19-800x800.jpg)
Poetry is the lifeblood of rebellion, revolution, and the raising of consciousness. —Alice Walker
![Poetry is the lifeblood of rebellion, revolution, and the raising of consciousness. —Alice Walker- poetry quotes](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/7-17-800x800.jpg)
Poetry, I feel, is a tyrannical discipline. You’ve got to go so far so fast in such a small space; you’ve got to burn away all the peripherals. —Sylvia Plath
![Poetry, I feel, is a tyrannical discipline. You’ve got to go so far so fast in such a small space; you’ve got to burn away all the peripherals. —Sylvia Plath](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/8-14-800x800.jpg)
A poet is, before anything else, a person who is passionately in love with language. —W. H. Auden
![A poet is, before anything else, a person who is passionately in love with language. —W. H. Auden](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/9-16-800x800.jpg)
Poets are shameless with their experiences: They exploit them. —Friedrich Nietzsche
![Poets are shameless with their experiences: They exploit them. —Friedrich Nietzsche](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/10-14-800x800.jpg)
Poets are the sense, philosophers the intelligence of humanity. —Samuel Beckett
![Poets are the sense, philosophers the intelligence of humanity. —Samuel Beckett- poetry quotes](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/11-14-800x800.jpg)
Always be a poet, even in prose. —Charles Baudelaire
![Always be a poet, even in prose. —Charles Baudelaire](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/12-16-800x800.jpg)
A poet’s work … to name the unnameable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world, and stop it from going to sleep. —Salman Rushdie
![A poet’s work ... to name the unnameable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world, and stop it from going to sleep. —Salman Rushdie](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/13-14-800x800.jpg)
All poets, all writers are political. They either maintain the status quo, or they say, “Something’s wrong, let’s change it for the better.” —Sonia Sanchez
![All poets, all writers are political. They either maintain the status quo, or they say, "Something’s wrong, let’s change it for the better." —Sonia Sanchez](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/14-13-800x800.jpg)
Painting is silent poetry, and poetry is painting that speaks. —Plutarch
![Painting is silent poetry, and poetry is painting that speaks. —Plutarch- poetry quotes](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/15-13-800x800.jpg)
It is a test [that] genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood. —T. S. Eliot
![It is a test [that] genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood. —T. S. Eliot](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/16-12-800x800.jpg)
A marvellous power of expression over language often distinguishes genius. —George Edward Woodberry
![A marvellous power of expression over language often distinguishes genius. —George Edward Woodberry](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/17-12-800x800.jpg)
Poetry is the one place where people can speak their original human mind. It is the outlet for people to say in public what is known in private. —Allen Ginsberg
![Poetry is the one place where people can speak their original human mind. It is the outlet for people to say in public what is known in private. —Allen Ginsberg- poetry quotes](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/18-11-800x800.jpg)
The crown of literature is poetry. —W. Somerset Maugham
![The crown of literature is poetry. —W. Somerset Maugham](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/19-10-800x800.jpg)
Poetry is ordinary language raised to the Nth power. —Paul Engle
![Poetry is ordinary language raised to the Nth power. —Paul Engle](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/20-10-800x800.jpg)
The great instrument of moral good is the imagination, and poetry administers to the effect by acting on the cause. —Percy Bysshe Shelley
![The great instrument of moral good is the imagination, and poetry administers to the effect by acting on the cause. —Percy Bysshe Shelley- poetry quotes](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/21-10-800x800.jpg)
Poetry is language surprised in the act of changing into meaning. —Stanley Kunitz
![Poetry is language surprised in the act of changing into meaning. —Stanley Kunitz](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/22-10-800x800.jpg)
Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history. —Plato
![Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history. —Plato](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/23-11-800x800.jpg)
Writing poetry is the hard manual labor of the imagination. —Ishmael Reed
![Writing poetry is the hard manual labor of the imagination. —Ishmael Reed- poetry quotes](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/24-9-800x800.jpg)
The aim of art is almost divine: to bring to life again if it is writing history, to create if it is writing poetry. —Victor Hugo
![](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/25-9-800x800.jpg)
The only true writing that came through during the war was in poetry. —Ernest Hemingway
![The only true writing that came through during the war was in poetry. —Ernest Hemingway](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/26-8-800x800.jpg)
Poetry can be dangerous, especially beautiful poetry, because it gives the illusion of having had the experience without actually going through it. —Rumi
![Poetry can be dangerous, especially beautiful poetry, because it gives the illusion of having had the experience without actually going through it. —Rumi- poetry quotes](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/27-7-800x800.jpg)
Poetry is what gets lost in translation. —Robert Frost
![Poetry is what gets lost in translation. —Robert Frost](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/28-8-800x800.jpg)
It is the job of poetry to clean up our word-clogged reality by creating silences around things. —Stephane Mallarme
![It is the job of poetry to clean up our word-clogged reality by creating silences around things. —Stephane Mallarme](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/29-7-800x800.jpg)
Poetry is finer and more philosophical than history; for poetry expresses the universal, and history only the particular. —Aristotle
![Poetry is finer and more philosophical than history; for poetry expresses the universal, and history only the particular. —Aristotle- poetry quotes](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/30-7-800x800.jpg)
Quotes About Poetry as Emotion
Poetry is emotion, passion, love, grief—everything that is human. It is not for zombies by zombies. —F. Sionil Jose
![Poetry is emotion, passion, love, grief—everything that is human. It is not for zombies by zombies. —F. Sionil Jose](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/31-7-800x800.jpg)
Poetry is a deal of joy and pain and wonder, with a dash of the dictionary. —Khalil Gibran
![Poetry is a deal of joy and pain and wonder, with a dash of the dictionary. —Khalil Gibran](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/32-7-800x800.jpg)
Poetry is what in a poem makes you laugh, cry, prickle, be silent, makes your toenails twinkle, makes you want to do this or that or nothing, makes you know that you are alone in the unknown world, that your bliss and suffering is forever shared and forever all your own. —Dylan Thomas
![Poetry is what in a poem makes you laugh, cry, prickle, be silent, makes your toenails twinkle, makes you want to do this or that or nothing, makes you know that you are alone in the unknown world, that your bliss and suffering is forever shared and forever all your own. —Dylan Thomas](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/Poetry-Quotes-30_v2-800x800.jpg)
Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: It takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity. —William Wordsworth
![Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: It takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity. —William Wordsworth](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/34-7-800x800.jpg)
Don’t write love poems when you’re in love. Write them when you’re not in love. —Richard Hugo
![Don’t write love poems when you’re in love. Write them when you’re not in love. —Richard Hugo](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/35-7-800x800.jpg)
A poem begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness. —Robert Frost
![A poem begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness. —Robert Frost- poetry quotes](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/36-7-800x800.jpg)
Poetry comes from the highest happiness or the deepest sorrow. —A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
![Poetry comes from the highest happiness or the deepest sorrow. —A.P.J. Abdul Kalam](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/37-7-800x800.jpg)
All bad poetry springs from genuine feeling. —Oscar Wilde
![All bad poetry springs from genuine feeling. —Oscar Wilde](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/38-7-800x800.jpg)
Poetry might be defined as the clear expression of mixed feelings. —W. H. Auden
![Poetry might be defined as the clear expression of mixed feelings. —W. H. Auden- poetry quotes](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/39-7-800x800.jpg)
Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality. But, of course, only those who have personality and emotions know what it means to want to escape from these things. —T. S. Eliot
![Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality. But, of course, only those who have personality and emotions know what it means to want to escape from these things. —T. S. Eliot](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/Poetry-Quotes-40_v2-800x800.jpg)
Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words. —Robert Frost
![](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/41-7-800x800.jpg)
Poetry is emotion put into measure. The emotion must come by nature, but the measure can be acquired by art. —Thomas Hardy
![Poetry is emotion put into measure. The emotion must come by nature, but the measure can be acquired by art. —Thomas Hardy- poetry quotes](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/42-7-800x800.jpg)
Poetry … is the revelation of a feeling that the poet believes to be interior and personal which the reader recognizes as his own. —Salvatore Quasimodo
![Poetry … is the revelation of a feeling that the poet believes to be interior and personal which the reader recognizes as his own. —Salvatore Quasimodo](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/43-8-800x800.jpg)
Poetry is the record of the best and happiest moments of the happiest and best minds. —Percy Bysshe Shelley
![Poetry is the record of the best and happiest moments of the happiest and best minds. —Percy Bysshe Shelley](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/44-7-800x800.jpg)
Poetry is the exquisite expression of exquisite impressions. —Philibert Joseph Roux
![Poetry is the exquisite expression of exquisite impressions. —Philibert Joseph Roux- poetry quotes](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/45-7-800x800.jpg)
Quotes About Poetry as Metaphors
Poetry is eternal graffiti written in the heart of everyone. —Lawrence Ferlinghetti
![Poetry is eternal graffiti written in the heart of everyone. —Lawrence Ferlinghetti](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/46-7-800x800.jpg)
Poetry is the rhythmical creation of beauty in words. —Edgar Allan Poe
![Poetry is the rhythmical creation of beauty in words. —Edgar Allan Poe](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/47-7-800x800.jpg)
It was at that age that poetry came in search of me. —Pablo Neruda
![It was at that age that poetry came in search of me. —Pablo Neruda- poetry quotes](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/48-7-800x800.jpg)
Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance. —Carl Sandburg
![Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance. —Carl Sandburg](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/49-7-800x800.jpg)
If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry. —Emily Dickinson
![If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry. —Emily Dickinson](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/50-7-800x800.jpg)
Poetry is like a bird, it ignores all frontiers. —Yevgeny Yevtushenko
![Poetry is like a bird, it ignores all frontiers. —Yevgeny Yevtushenko- poetry quotes](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/51-5-800x800.jpg)
Poetry is a way of taking life by the throat. —Robert Frost
![Poetry is a way of taking life by the throat. —Robert Frost](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/52-5-800x800.jpg)
Poetry is a political act because it involves telling the truth. —June Jordan
![Poetry is a political act because it involves telling the truth. —June Jordan](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/53-5-800x800.jpg)
If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can ever warm me, I know that is poetry. —Emily Dickinson
![If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can ever warm me, I know that is poetry. —Emily Dickinson- poetry quotes](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/54-5-800x800.jpg)
The world is full of poetry. The air is living with its spirit; and the waves dance to the music of its melodies and sparkle in its brightness. —James Gates Percival
![The world is full of poetry. The air is living with its spirit; and the waves dance to the music of its melodies and sparkle in its brightness. —James Gates Percival](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/55-5-800x800.jpg)
The poet is the priest of the invisible. —Wallace Stevens
![The poet is the priest of the invisible. —Wallace Stevens](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/56-5-800x800.jpg)
Poetry cannot breathe in the scholar’s atmosphere. —Henry David Thoreau
![Poetry cannot breathe in the scholar’s atmosphere. —Henry David Thoreau- poetry quotes](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/57-5-800x800.jpg)
Poetry is not an expression of the party line. It’s that time of night, lying in bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, that’s what the poet does. —Allen Ginsberg
![Poetry is not an expression of the party line. It’s that time of night, lying in bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, that’s what the poet does. —Allen Ginsberg](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/58-5-800x800.jpg)
Poetry is not only dream and vision; it is the skeleton architecture of our lives. It lays the foundations for a future of change, a bridge across our fears of what has never been before. —Audre Lorde
![Poetry is not only dream and vision; it is the skeleton architecture of our lives. It lays the foundations for a future of change, a bridge across our fears of what has never been before. —Audre Lorde](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/Poetry-Quotes-59_v2-800x800.jpg)
Poetry is plucking at the heartstrings and making music with them. —Dennis Gabor
![Poetry is plucking at the heartstrings and making music with them. —Dennis Gabor- poetry quotes](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/60-5-800x800.jpg)
Poetry is thoughts that breathe, and words that burn. —Thomas Gray
![Poetry is thoughts that breathe, and words that burn. —Thomas Gray](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/61-5-800x800.jpg)
A poet dares be just so clear and no clearer. … He unzips the veil from beauty but does not remove it. A poet utterly clear is a trifle glaring. —E. B. White
![A poet dares be just so clear and no clearer. ... He unzips the veil from beauty but does not remove it. A poet utterly clear is a trifle glaring. —E. B. White](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/62-5-800x800.jpg)
Writing a book of poetry is like dropping a rose petal down the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo. —Don Marquis
![Writing a book of poetry is like dropping a rose petal down the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo. —Don Marquis- poetry quotes](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/63-5-800x800.jpg)
All great poetry is dipped in the dyes of the heart. —Edith Sitwell
![All great poetry is dipped in the dyes of the heart. —Edith Sitwell](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/64-5-800x800.jpg)
Writing was a political act and poetry was a cultural weapon. —Linton Kwesi Johnson
![Writing was a political act and poetry was a cultural weapon. —Linton Kwesi Johnson](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/65-5-800x800.jpg)
Other Quotes About Poetry
Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal. —T. S. Eliot
![Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal. —T. S. Eliot- poetry quotes](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/66-5-800x800.jpg)
I consider myself a poet first and a musician second. I live like a poet and I’ll die like a poet. —Bob Dylan
![I consider myself a poet first and a musician second. I live like a poet and I’ll die like a poet. —Bob Dylan](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/67-5-800x800.jpg)
You must have a certain amount of maturity to be a poet. Seldom do sixteen-year-olds know themselves well enough. —Erica Jong
![You must have a certain amount of maturity to be a poet. Seldom do sixteen-year-olds know themselves well enough. —Erica Jong](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/68-5-800x800.jpg)
One should always be drunk. That’s all that matters. … But with what? With wine, with poetry, or with virtue, as you choose. But get drunk. —Charles Baudelaire
![- poetry quotes](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/69-5-800x800.jpg)
Poetry and beauty are always making peace. When you read something beautiful, you find coexistence; it breaks walls down. —Mahmoud Darwish
![Poetry and beauty are always making peace. When you read something beautiful, you find coexistence; it breaks walls down. —Mahmoud Darwish](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/70-5-800x800.jpg)
There is no Frigate like a book to take us lands away nor any coursers like a page of prancing Poetry. —Emily Dickinson
![There is no Frigate like a book to take us lands away nor any coursers like a page of prancing Poetry. —Emily Dickinson](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/71-3-800x800.jpg)
My subject is War, and the pity of War. The Poetry is in the pity. —Wilfred Owen
![My subject is War, and the pity of War. The Poetry is in the pity. —Wilfred Owen- poetry quotes](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/72-3-800x800.jpg)
Poetry—but what is poetry. —Wislawa Szymborska
![Poetry—but what is poetry. —Wislawa Szymborska](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/73-3-800x800.jpg)
Reality only reveals itself when it is illuminated by a ray of poetry. —Georges Braque
![Reality only reveals itself when it is illuminated by a ray of poetry. —Georges Braque](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/74-3-800x800.jpg)
I do not go in search of poetry. I wait for poetry to visit me. —Eugenio Montale
![I do not go in search of poetry. I wait for poetry to visit me. —Eugenio Montale- poetry quotes](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/75-3-800x800.jpg)
Poetry is an act of distillation. It takes contingency samples, is selective. It telescopes time. It focuses what most often floods past us in a polite blur. —Diane Ackerman
![Poetry is an act of distillation. It takes contingency samples, is selective. It telescopes time. It focuses what most often floods past us in a polite blur. —Diane Ackerman](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/76-2-800x800.jpg)
To be a poet is a condition, not a profession. —Robert Grave
![To be a poet is a condition, not a profession. —Robert Grave](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/77-2-800x800.jpg)
Oh, speak no ill of poetry, for ’tis a holy thing. —Lydia Huntley Sigourney
![Oh, speak no ill of poetry, for ’tis a holy thing. —Lydia Huntley Sigourney- poetry quotes](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/78-2-800x800.jpg)
It takes a lot of desperation, dissatisfaction, and disillusion to write a few good poems. —Charles Bukowski
![It takes a lot of desperation, dissatisfaction, and disillusion to write a few good poems. —Charles Bukowski](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/79-2-800x800.jpg)
Was not writing poetry a secret transaction, a voice answering a voice? —Virginia Woolf
![Was not writing poetry a secret transaction, a voice answering a voice? —Virginia Woolf](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/80-2-800x800.jpg)
Poetry lifts the veil from the hidden beauty of the world, and makes familiar objects be as if they were not familiar. —Percy Bysshe Shelley
![Poetry lifts the veil from the hidden beauty of the world, and makes familiar objects be as if they were not familiar. —Percy Bysshe Shelley- poetry quotes](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/81-2-800x800.jpg)
![The written word can be so powerful. Share these incredible poetry quotes in your classroom. Your students will love them!](https://www.weareteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/Poetry-Quotes.gif)