Thursday, January 10, 2013

PHILOSOPHY (3)

Many contemporary poets think poetry is a linguistic game. For me it is -other than philosophy but with the same power- a way to deal with the main questions.

Adam Zagajewski



Poetry is finer and more philosophical than history, for poetry expresses the universal, and history only the particular.

Aristotle


Philosophy is the hospital of poetry.

Novalis



www.alberthagenaars.nl

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

RHYTHM (2)

Poetry has no standards. Poetry danses on the rhythm of the moment.

Hugo Claus



Poetry is a slumbering thought which wakes up on rhythm and sound.

Catharina Boer



www.catharinaboer.nl

Monday, January 7, 2013

Saturday, January 5, 2013

HOSPITAL

Philosophy is the hospital of poetry.

Novalis



www.alberthagenaars.nl

VAGUENESS

Most people have such a vague idea about poetry, that this vagueness itself becomes the definition of poetry for them.

Paul Valéry



www.alberthagenaars.nl

POWER

When power narrows the areas of man's concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses.

President J.F. Kennedy (or his spin doctor)



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Friday, January 4, 2013

EGG

How I write a poem? Quite simply, like a rooster lays an egg.

Martinus Nijhoff



www.alberthagenaars.nl

EXPERIENCE

For poems are not, as people think, feelings (one has them early enough) - they are experiences.

Rainer Maria Rilke



www.alberthagenaars.nl

INSIDE OUT

Poetry is writing inside out.

Teuntje Knöps



www.alberthagenaars.nl

NUANCES

Nuances are everything, in life as well as in language.

Louis Couperus



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SENSES

Love is the poetry of the senses.

Honoré de Balzac



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VITALITY

Sexuality is the poetry of vitality.

George Van Acker



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MERIT

One merit of poetry few persons will deny: it says more and in fewer words than prose.

Voltaire



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PAPER

Poetry surrounds us everywhere, but putting it on paper is, unfortunately, not as easy as looking at it.

Vincent van Gogh



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SILENCE (4)

Poetry is a heightened form of keeping silent.

Norbert De Beule



Poetry is an orphan of silence. The words never quite equal the experience behind them.

Charles Simic



A poem doesn't only consist of words - it consists of words and their silence.

Martinus Nijhoff



Words may only serve to improve the silence.

Karel Jonckheere



www.alberthagenaars.nl

HISTORY (3)

Poetry is finer and more philosophical than history, for poetry expresses the universal, and history only the particular.

Aristotle


Poetry is closer to vital truth than history.

Plato



Poetry provides us with the history of the human heart.


Billy Collins




www.alberthagenaars.nl





Also see:
Dutch poetry in Indonesian language, translated by Siti Wahyuningsih and Albert Hagenaars

Critical reviews on modern Dutch poetry





MUSIC (2)

The poet is a sculptor who paints music.

Clem Schouwenaars



A man should hear a little music, read some poetry, and see a fine picture each day of his life, in order to prevent that worldly worries obliterate the sense of beauty which God has implanted in the human soul.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe



www.alberthagenaars.nl

PACKING

A poet: a person looking for words, a new packaging for his feelings.

Jos Vandeloo



www.alberthagenaars.nl

REALITY

Writing poems is mixing feelings with reality.

Ben Moudhi



www.alberthagenaars.nl

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

IGNORANCE

Poetry is the only domain where ignorance can beat academicism.

Herman De Coninck



www.alberthagenaars.nl

BACKWARD

Poetry is listening backward and looking forward.

Remco Campert



www.alberthagenaars.nl

WOLF

Do you know how poetry started? I always think that it started when a cave boy came running back to the cave, through the tall grass, shouting as he ran, “Wolf, wolf,” and there was no wolf. His baboon-like parents, great sticklers for the truth, gave him a hiding, no doubt, but poetry had been born—the tall story had been born in the tall grass.

Vladimir Nabokov



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NEW YEAR

For last year’s words belong to last year’s language and next year’s words await another voice.

T.S. Eliot



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