| The magic of verse |
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Somehow poetry matters to humans. Ask the experts why and about the importance of poetry and what it's all about, and the answers are as different as some poems are from others.  Painting is silent poetry, and poetry is painting that speaks.Wallace Stevens says, 'A poet looks at the world the way a man looks at a woman.' I like Thomas Hardy's view. 'If Galileo had said in verse that the world moved, the inquisition might have let him alone.' Voltaire wrote, 'One merit of poetry few persons will deny: it says more and in fewer words than prose.' Plutarch said, 'Painting is silent poetry, and poetry is painting that speaks.' It's important. I love it. In times of stress, heaving one's yacht through a storm, enduring inhumanity, being alive, rehearsing verse in one's head can be enormously helpful. Poetry is important. So, from time to time, I'll include here favourite lines. PDF downloads: |