“I have always thought that one should write poetry only as one dies; that is to say, at the last extremity and when it is impossible to do otherwise.”

Presenting poetry as an urgent expression born of emotional necessity · Preface to her Collected Poems (1902)

• Mortality
• Poetry

“I have marked in red the days on which I discovered certain poets, most certainly minor, who died centuries ago.”

Remembering the lasting joy of discovering neglected voices from the past · Preface to her Collected Poems (1902)

• Joy
• Memory
• Poetry

“Yet, like all poets, I trust these little songs may find an audience to-morrow: they have that saving virtue of sincerity which is the salt of Art.”

Placing faith in sincerity and in the possibility of recognition by future readers · Preface to her Collected Poems (1902)

• Hope
• Poetry
• Truth