"The poetry of this one is called philosophical, of that one philological, of a third rhetorical, and so on. Which is then the poetic poetry?"
- Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel
About this Quote
Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel's quote is asking which type of poetry is the most poetic. He is recommending that various types of poetry can be categorized as philosophical, philological, rhetorical, and so on. He is implying that each kind of poetry has its own unique qualities and characteristics, and that it is difficult to figure out which type of poetry is the most poetic. He is recommending that the response to this concern is subjective and depends on the individual's interpretation of poetry. He is also recommending that the appeal of poetry depends on its ability to be interpreted in a different way by different individuals. Eventually, Schlegel's quote is a reminder that poetry is a type of art that is open to analysis and needs to be appreciated for its special qualities.
"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"