Poetry is often generations in advance of the thought of its time.

It is not possible, for a poet, writing in any language, to protect himself from the tragic elements in human life.... [ellipsis in source] Illness, old age, and death--subjects as ancient as humanity--these are the subjects that the poet must speak of very nearly from the first moment that he begins to speak.

All art, in spite of the struggles of some critics to prove otherwise, is based on emotion and projects emotion.

At midnight tears Run into your ears.

O remember In your narrowing dark hours That more things move Than blood in the heart.

I don't like quintessential certitude.

Because language is the carrier of ideas, it is easy to believe that it should be very little else than such a carrier.