get the lead out, it’s noting really: quotable quotes
Published by Christine June 19th, 2008 in Christine, Get the Lead Out.The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience.
~Emily Dickenson
Some people would raise their eyebrows and shake their heads to know that I mark up my books a lot as I read them. I guess it’s rude in a way, if you think about the next person who might pick up the book for a good read, but I can’t help it. I love to underline significant passages, even though I rarely review what I’ve underscored.
To remedy my lack of review, I’ve taken to keeping a list of memorable quotations, thoughts that ignite a response in me that needs to come out on paper. If an author’s words inspire me enough to underline them, maybe those lines warrant special treatment.
In his book The Art and Craft of Poetry, Michael J. Bugeja suggests using quotations as epigraphs, which he defines as “brief citations placed immediately above or below the title of your poem.” (Bugeja 11)
In his chapter about occasion poems, such as poems responding to specific events in history, Bugeja states that a descriptive epigraph, “even if only a date,” can “ground the reader in time or convey information that will overshadow, forebode, or otherwise color the reader’s perception of events.” (Bugeja 127)
A good example of the use of epigraph is Leilani Hall’s poem “Random Communication”. Hall begins with a dedication to her friend, Joyce Inman, and then follows with a quote in Spanish from Pablo Neruda’s poem, “Oda con un lamento.” Throughout the poem there are references to lines of poetry by Robert Creely, CD Wright, and reference material from the encyclopedia, all of which Hall cites in the notes section of her collection, Swimming the Witch. (If you missed Jessica’s review of Swimming the Witch, you can read it here.)
The Internet is a great source of quotations. Here’s a list to get you started:
The Quotations Page
Bartelby
Quoteland
Quoteworld
Brainyquote
Quotegarden
Cool Quotes
I’ll leave you with one of the recent quotes I’ve copied into my notebook, taken from Creative Meditation and Visualization by David Fontana. In describing how ancient Greek sculptors viewed their work he says, “[f]or him, the stone was ready to disclose the divine image, provided he could become one with the stone and allow himself to become the instrument for this magical transformation.” (Fontana 17)
Do you have a quote that has inspired you to write a poem? What are your thoughts about keeping track of quotes and referring to them as a source of inspiration? Have you ever written a poem that disagrees with another author’s thoughts? If you have a quote you’d like to share, write it in the comments section, and tell us your source.
~Christine.
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Bugeja , Michael J. (1994). The Art and Craft of Poetry. Cincinnati: Writer’s Digest Books.
Fontana , David. (2007). Creative Meditation and Visualization. London: Watkins Publishing.
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Great post!
Bugeja’s book is one of my favourites, every poet should read it!
I collect quotes for future inspiration and sometimes have written poems directly inspired by quotes.
I love quotations and have used the epigraph in prose but never poetry. I’m not sure why. I also underline and collect quotes I like. This one from Rilke’s Duino Elegies is one of my favorites of all time: “For beauty is nothing / but the beginning of terror, which we are still just able to endure, / and we are so awed because it serenely disdains to annihilate us.”
I have collected quotations for years: some obscure, some notable but most prophetic. I dearly love those taken from the words of Native Americans. The incite into how our lives are affected by our environment and the observation of human interaction with our realities is profound. I believe that the following quotation by a noted Lakota Sioux holy man is very relevant to our time. His full name is John “Lame Deer”. He was born sometime close to 1900 and lived a very colorful life. He has several books that contain the wisdom of the ages. This is one of my favorite quotations by Lame Deer:
“If this earth should ever be destroyed, it will be by desire, by the lust of pleasure and self-gratification.”
Can you see, can you feel….. the poetry in it?
I love quotes!
Here’s a poem based on two from my favorite AUTHOR of all.
CROSSROADS, on NICKERS AND INK
Thanks, CGP! If you recommend Bugeja’s book, everyone needs to read it, because you are a treasure trove of poetic knowledge.
Nathan, does Rilke’s quote explain why I want to squeeze the Piillsbury Doughboy until he pops? Just kidding. And then we have Keat’s line, Truth is beauty and bueaty is truth. Yikes, quotes all over the place, contradicting each other!
Donald, you could break up his line and turn the quote into a found poem, as long as you credit your source!
Thanks for responding, Linda. I’ll check out your poem with mystery author.
…it takes courage to grow up and become who you really are…
e e cummings
Rob,
This is a great quote! Have you written to it? If so, I’d love to read what you wrote. Maybe this is how you live your life? Thanks for sharing.
Christine -
I was away for a few days, so I just read your response.
I first read this e e cumming’s quote when I was in high school — and the words pierced my heart.
I was the lead singer and lyricist in a rock band I’d formed with some friends. It was 1964, and though I was a rocker, I was also the product of 1950’s Catholicism. In other words I was repressed, guilt-ridden by my humanistic tendencies, and caught up in male superiority, as well as the ‘macho’ affectations of the times.
It was then I discovered and came to love the writings of e e cummings, as well as Kerouac, Ginsberg, Gary Snyder, and similar others — I simply loved the beat and avant-garde writers. The lyrics I wrote for my band, reflected the free nature of these writers, but I always felt I was personally insincere — not really authentic to my words.
This quote opened my mind, my heart, and my spirit to finally embrace who I was. In addition to being an athlete and a rocker, I was also a poet, an artist, and a sensitive male — who found the pseudo-misogynistic posturing of jocks and rockers of that era to be offensive.
This quote turned my life around and I began to embrace my true feelings, in all aspects of my life — to the best of my abilities. It is why I write today, openly about my life and feelings — with a special love of poetry. It’s why I am an artist, why I’ve raised my sons and daughter to follow their hearts — no mater where it leads them.
It is why I’ve maintained my sense of wonder, staying alert that I not surrender it to the pretenses of ‘maturity’. This quote set me free…
…rob
Found this line recently in a poem called Coexistance: A Lost and Almost Found Poem by Peter Cole.
The army has nearly written a poem:
You’ll now need a permit just to stay home
Not uplifting, but eerily precise and unsettling.