Every poem I write falls short in some important way. But I go on trying to write the one that won’t.

Dorianne Laux
Every poem I write falls short in some important way....
Every poem I write falls short in some important way....
Every poem I write falls short in some important way....
Every poem I write falls short in some important way....
About This Quote

Every poem I write falls short in some important way. But I go on trying to write the one that won’t. The author of this quote is William Carlos Williams, an American poet and physician. He was born in 1883 and died in 1963.

This quote is best known for its use in "The Waste Land". At first glance it seems like a simple saying that could be easily misinterpreted. However, the meaning takes on a deeper meaning when that line is broken down into its ten constituent parts.

Some Similar Quotes
  1. Perhaps the truth depends on a walk around the lake. - Wallace Stevens
  2. To be great, be whole; Exclude nothing, exaggerate nothing that is not you. Be whole in everything. Put all you are Into the smallest thing you do. So, in each lake, the moon shines with splendor Because it blooms up above. - Fernando Pessoa
  3. The poet's job is to put into words those feelings we all have that are so deep, so important, and yet so difficult to name, to tell the truth in such a beautiful way, that people cannot live without it. - Jane Kenyon
  4. Truth is a friendthat asks for loyaltyand acceptancethen it enters our heartsdissolving the boundariesfreeing us from lonliness - Nirmala
  5. Trees are poems the earth writes upon the sky, We fell them down and turn them into paper, That we may record our emptiness. - Kahlil Gibran
More Quotes By Dorianne Laux
  1. Death comes to me again, a girlin a cotton slip, barefoot, giggling. It’s not so terrible she tells me, not like you think, all darknessand silence. There are windchimesand the smell of lemons, some daysit rains, but more often the air is dryand sweet. I...
  2. Who you are contributes to your poetry in a number of important ways, but you shouldn't identify with your poems so closely that when they are cut, you're the one that bleeds.
  3. We aren't suggesting that mental instability or unhappiness makes one a better poet, or a poet at all; and contrary to the romantic notion of the artist suffering for his or her work, we think these writers achieved brilliance in spite of their suffering, not...
  4. Poetry is an intimate act. It's about bringing forth something that's inside you--whether it is a memory, a philosophical idea, a deep love for another person or for the world, or an apprehension of the spiritual. It's about making something, in language, which can be...
  5. Every good poem asks a question, and every good poet asks every question.
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