“Poetry is that art which selects and arranges the symbols of thought in such a manner as to excite it the most powerfully and delightfully.”

Describing poetry as the deliberate shaping of thought into imaginative experience · Lecture, On the Nature of Poetry, 1825–26

• Creativity
• Poetry
• Thought

“The truth is, that poetry which does not find its way to the heart is scarcely deserving of the name.”

Arguing that genuine poetry must reach the emotions · Lecture, On the Nature of Poetry, 1825–26

• Emotion
• Poetry
• Truth

“To write fine poetry requires intellectual faculties of the highest order, and among these, not the least important, is the faculty of reason.”

Rejecting the idea that poetry belongs to feeling alone · Lecture, On the Nature of Poetry, 1825–26

• Mind
• Poetry
• Reason