Remarks by William Hughes Mearns | V2Melody Quotations

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Showing 11 of 11 remarks

“Poetry is when you talk to yourself.”

Verse as private speech overheard on the page · Chapter heading, Creative Power

“Whenever creative work with children flourishes I seek the one who has opened up communication with them on the side of their secret, unexpressed selves.”

The hidden self is where the work begins · Educational writing on creative teaching

“Children are creative persons, not scholiasts; they use language as the artist the world over has used his medium, not as an end in itself but as a means for the expression of thought and feeling.”

Language as a tool of feeling rather than a school subject · Book, Creative Power

“You have something to say, something that no one else in the world has said in just your way of saying it.”

Originality as a manner of saying rather than a new subject · Teaching books, commonly cited

“You have something to say. Something of your very own. Try to say it. Don't be ashamed of any real thought or feeling you have. Don't undervalue it. Don't let the fear of others prevent you from saying it.”

A charge to trust an unrepeatable personal voice · Teaching books, commonly cited

“Writing is an outward expression of instinctive insight that must be summoned from the vastly deep of our mysterious selves. Therefore, it cannot be taught; indeed, it cannot even be summoned; it can only be permitted.”

The teacher's task is to make room for what cannot be forced · Educational writing, commonly attributed

“Self-expression itself, however, is not enough. There must be a movement forward and upward.”

Free utterance still needs direction and growth · Educational writing, as quoted in notices of his work

“The old education set up an adult standard at every stage of growth. We are learning that the only standard which is effective for self-education is the one that is wholeheartedly accepted by the young people themselves.”

Standards work only when the learner claims them · Educational writing, as quoted in notices of his work

“The standardized curricular education requires results each day, each week, surely each month, with an accumulated measurable outcome at the end of each semester; creative education thinks in terms of years and even in spans of years.”

Measuring growth slowly rather than by weekly yield · Book, Creative Power

“The creative school cares not how inept and slovenly a lad may be the whole term, if it sees something personal and fine taking slow possession of him.”

Patience with awkward beginnings if a personal voice is taking shape · Book, Creative Power

“The difficulty with writing a play is not in writing it, but in getting it produced.”

Capturing the practical obstacles that can stand between artistic creation and public recognition · Creative Power