THEORY

The writing of 'The Groundhog' is an example of a theory I have that poetry is a gift of the gods. It cannot be had only by taking thought. The process is ultimately mysterious, involving a total trust of the whole being, some kind of magical power. When a poem is ready to be born it will be born whole, without the need to change a word, or perhaps with the need to change only a word or two. I thus go back to an ancient theory of inspiration.

Richard Eberhart



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DICTATION

I have written this Poem from immediate Dictation, twelve or sometimes twenty or thirty lines at a time, without Premeditation & even against my Will; the Time it has taken in writing was thus render'd Non Existent, & an immense Poem exists which seems to be the Labour of a Long Life, all produc'd without Labour or Study.

William Blake



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ELOQUENCE

Poetry is at the same time Music, Sculpture, Painting, Eloquence; it should charm the ear, delight the mind, make objects visible, and excite in us the movements which it chooses to arouse; and so it is the one complete and necessary art, and the one which contains the rest, just as it presupposes all the rest.

Theodore de Banville



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CHIVALRY

There is nothing more precious in the world than the poetic spirit, and a sense of chivalry.

Charles Baudelaire



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