Wednesday, May 30, 2007

1st Quote: Valéry

"Sometimes something wants to be said, sometimes a way of saying wants to be used." - Paul Valéry

Rachel tagged me, asking for 10 quotes that jibe with my ideas about writing poetry. I'm going to do them one or two at a time, bitesize, for better digestion all around.

The Valéry quote above is one of my very favorites. In poetry there are poems that tell stories, convey emotion, rant or pack a moral. Sometimes they leave us reeling, mostly because of how the poet delivers the content. Then there are poems that are, let's say, lighter on message and more intent on bringing over the joy of language. They don't have to use verbal pyrotechnics, they may just be expert at turning a phrase. (Of course a poem can also do both.)

Poems -somewhat rashly and randomly chosen- in which I like the "way of saying:"
*end of the tan
*My Translation
*Gargoyle
*Freeze Frame
*Miss Peach is a Cross Between

3 comments:

sam of the ten thousand things said...

Excellent approach to the quotations' list. I especially like your chosen poems.

SarahJane said...

thanks sam!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing these, Sarah. I esp. like "Freeze Frame, With Forsythia".

johanna

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