“Yes, there is a luck in most things, and in none more than in being born at the right time.”

On how the age a writer enters can shape reputation as much as talent · Critical prose, commonly cited

• Chance
• Fame
• Time

“No work of art has real import, none endures, unless the maker has something to say.”

Expression without a thought worth uttering does not last · Lecture, The Nature and Elements of Poetry (1892)

• Art
• Expression
• Meaning

“A critic must accept what is best in a poet, and thus become his best encourager.”

Criticism as recognition of the strongest gift, not only fault-finding · Critical essay

• Criticism
• Encouragement
• Poetry

“Fashion is a potency in art, making it hard to judge between the temporary and the lasting.”

A caution against mistaking the taste of the hour for enduring work · Essay, Poets of America (1885)

• Art
• Judgement
• Taste

“Natural emotion is the soul of poetry, as melody is of music.”

Sincerity of feeling set above studied effect · Essay, Poets of America (1885)

• Emotion
• Poetry
• Sincerity

“The poet is a creator, not an iconoclast, and never will tamely endeavor to say in prose what can only be expressed in song.”

Poetry as making, not as a substitute for argument · Critical essay

• Creation
• Expression
• Poetry

“The poet who does not revere his art, and believe in its sovereignty, is not born to wear the purple.”

Faith in the art itself as a condition of lasting poetic rank · Essay, Poets of America (1885)

• Devotion
• Poetry
• Poets

“Only when it takes wings does language become poetry.”

Rhythm and imaginative lift as the mark that separates verse from ordinary speech · Lecture, The Nature and Elements of Poetry (1892)

• Imagination
• Language
• Poetry

“Poetry is rhythmical, imaginative language, expressing the invention, taste, thought, passion, and insight of the human soul.”

His compact definition of poetry as made speech, not mere feeling · Lecture, The Nature and Elements of Poetry (1892)

• Definition
• Imagination
• Poetry

“Poetry is an art, and chief of the fine arts; the easiest to dabble in, the hardest in which to reach true excellence.”

On why verse looks easy and is unforgiving of the half-gifted · Essay, Victorian Poets (1875)

• Art
• Excellence
• Poetry