Wallace StevensPoetry is an abstraction bloodied.
About This Quote
Poetry is an abstraction bloodied. An abstraction is a drawing or painting that has been drawn or painted and is not actually something that exists in the world. You can’t take a poem and put it in front of you to see if it’s realistic because poetry doesn’t exist in real life. Poetry has to be read and interpreted.
It can be written down but it cannot be read like a history book or a novel. The fact that poetry exists as an abstraction means that there are no rules to define it. The meaning of any poem is separate from its literal meaning; the literal meaning is only known by those who read the poem.
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More Quotes By Wallace Stevens
- The final belief is to believe in a fiction, which you know to be a fiction, there being nothing else. The exquisite truth is to know that it is a fiction and that you believe in it willingly.
- Perhaps the truth depends on a walk around the lake.
- I am the truth, since I am part of what is real, but neither more nor less than those around me.
- After the final no there comes a yes / And on that yes the future world depends.
- I do not know which to prefer, The beauty of inflections Or the beauty of innuendos The blackbird whistling Or just after.