"All slang is metaphor, and all metaphor is poetry"
- Gilbert K. Chesterton
About this Quote
This quote by Gilbert K. Chesterton speaks to the power of language and how it can be utilized to express concepts and emotions. He is suggesting that all slang is a kind of metaphor, which is a figure of speech that uses something to represent another. Metaphors are typically utilized in poetry to create vivid images and to communicate intricate ideas in a succinct way. Chesterton is stating that by using slang, we are basically creating a type of poetry. He is emphasizing the importance of language and how it can be utilized to express ourselves in imaginative and significant methods. By comprehending the power of language, we can use it to communicate our ideas and feelings in such a way that is both powerful and poetic.
"We don't attempt to have any theme for a number of the anthology, or to have any particular sequence. We just put in things that we like, and then we try to alternate the prose and the poetry"
"Concrete poets continue to turn out beautiful things, but to me they're more visual than oral, and they almost really belong on the wall rather than in a book. I haven't the least idea of where poetry is going"
"I think Ginsberg has done more harm to the craft that I honor and live by than anybody else by reducing it to a kind of mean that enables the most dubious practitioners to claim they are poets because they think, If the kind of thing Ginsberg does is poetry, I can do that"
