“A poem is that species of composition, which is opposed to works of science, by proposing for its immediate object pleasure, not truth.”

Distinguishing poetry by its primary aim of pleasure rather than instruction · Biographia Literaria, Chapter XIV

• Art
• Pleasure
• Poetry

“People of humour are always in some degree people of genius.”

Associating comic perception with creative intelligence · Notes and lectures

• Art
• Joy

“Poetry is certainly something more than good sense, but it must be good sense at all events; just as a palace is more than a house, but it must be a house, at least.”

Insisting that poetic elevation rests on a foundation of sound sense · Table Talk, 9 May 1830

• Poetry
• Reason
• Sense