The young people have MTV and rock and roll. Why would they go to read poetry? Poetry belongs to the Stone Age. It awakens in us perceptions that go back to those times. Robert Morgan on age
Alchemy is the art of far and near, and I think poetry is alchemy in that way. It's delightful to distort size, to see something that's tiny as though it were vast. Robert Morgan on art
The idea of avant-garde art is a very suspicious thing to me, the idea that poetry is new and it keeps being new the way Chevrolets every year are new. Robert Morgan on art
Our most famous writers are Faulkner and Eudora Welty and Flannery O'Connor. It would make sense that the poetry would reflect some of those same values, some of the same techniques. Robert Morgan on famous
In the later books I am much more at home in the use of language to describe things. I had never thought of that until a critic pointed that out. Robert Morgan on home
Philip Larkin has a tough honesty and sense of humor that I find irresistible, as a contemporary poet. Robert Morgan on humor
I did not have a very literary background. I came to poetry from the sciences and mathematics, and also through an interest in Japanese and Chinese poetry in translation. Robert Morgan on poetry
If a poem is not memorable, there's probably something wrong. One of the problems of free verse is that much of the free verse poetry is not memorable. Robert Morgan on poetry
I think that it's more likely that in my 60s and 70s I will be writing poetry rather than fiction. Robert Morgan on poetry
Pound's translation of Chinese poetry was maybe the most important thing I read. Eliot a little bit later. Robert Morgan on poetry
You have to really dive deep back into yourself and get rid of so much modern analytical categorization. It's one of the great things poetry does. Robert Morgan on poetry
The great watershed of modern poetry is French, more than English. Robert Morgan on poetry
Among the American contemporaries I read with most enjoyment are several North Carolinians. I think the best poetry being written these days is being written by Southerners. Robert Morgan on poetry
The Language Poets are writing only about language itself. The Ashbery poets are writing only about poetry itself. That seems to me a kind of dead end. Robert Morgan on poetry
Our most famous writers are Faulkner and Eudora Welty and Flannery O'Connor. It would make sense that the poetry would reflect some of those same values, some of the same techniques. Robert Morgan on poetry
Poetry, almost by definition, calls attention to its language and form. Robert Morgan on poetry
The decision to write in prose instead of poetry is made more by the readers than by writers. Almost no one is interested in reading narrative in verse. Robert Morgan on poetry
Teaching writing over the years intrudes on your own writing in important ways, taking away some of the excitement of poetry. Robert Morgan on poetry
I don't think poetry is something that can be taught. We can encourage young writers, but what you can't teach them is the very essence of poetry. Robert Morgan on poetry
I don't think the creative writing industry has helped American poetry. Robert Morgan on poetry