“Poetry is an Art — that is, it is one of the Fine Arts — and, using the word in this recognized sense, all Art is the expression of Ideas in some sensuous material or medium.”

Defining art as ideas embodied in forms that can affect the senses · Address, The Necessity of Poetry, 1917

• Art
• Poetry

“This is poetic magic. Certainly it was not to common-sense that Milton turned for consolation; and a work of sheer beauty was the only worthy offering that Poetry could make.”

Defending poetry's power to answer grief through beauty rather than logic · Essay, Poetic Diction, 1923

• Beauty
• Death
• Poetry

“Temper and sharpen it as you may, your chisel cannot cut itself. We should therefore not expect too much.”

Using a vivid metaphor for the limitations of human reason · Address, Democracy and Education, 1916

• Truth