"Poetry is the art of substantiating shadows, and of lending existence to nothing"
- Edmund Burke
About this Quote
This quote by Edmund Burke speaks with the power of poetry to bring life to the intangible. Poetry is an art type that can take the abstract and make it concrete. It can take the shadows of our ideas and sensations and provide form and substance. It can take the nothingness of our innermost selves and provide it existence. Poetry is a method of expressing the inexpressible, of giving voice to the voiceless, of making the undetectable noticeable. It is a method of getting in touch with the world around us and with ourselves. It is a way of understanding the turmoil of life and of finding beauty in the darkness. Poetry is a way of enlivening the shadows and of providing presence to nothing.