"I work on words quite separately to music. They're both ongoing, and I don't ever feel like I'm working in a cycle in that respect, because it's every day anyway, no matter what I'm doing. Then I get to a point when I've collected together enough words that seem like they want to be songs rather than poems, or sometimes not"
- P. J. Harvey
About this Quote
P.J. Harvey's quote talks to the imaginative process of composing. She deals with words and music individually, and it is a continuous process. She does not feel like she is operating in a cycle, since she is continuously writing. When she has gathered enough words, she can choose if they should be songs or poems. This suggests that she has a clear idea of what she wants to produce, and she is able to acknowledge when her words are prepared to be become a song or poem. It likewise suggests that she is able to recognize when her words are not appropriate for a tune or poem, and she has the ability to discard them. This quote talks to the creative process of composing, and how it is an ongoing process that requires a great deal of work and commitment.
"My sorrow, when she's here with me, thinks these dark days of autumn rain are beautiful as days can be; she loves the bare, the withered tree; she walks the sodden pasture lane"