“The genius of those who write in this manner may be freely acknowledged, but they do not write for mankind at large.”

On poetry that remains too narrow or obscure · Introduction to A Library of Poetry and Song

• Audience
• Poetry
• Universality

“The language of passion is naturally figurative, but its figures are only employed to heighten the intensity of the expression.”

Linking figurative language to the natural expression of strong feeling · Lecture, On the Nature of Poetry, 1825–26

• Emotion
• Imagery
• Language

“The proper office of poetry, in filling the mind with delightful images and awakening the gentler emotions, is not accomplished on a first and rapid perusal, but requires that the words should be dwelt upon until they become in a certain sense our own, and are adopted as the utterance of our own minds.”

On the need for attentive, repeated reading of poetry · Introduction to A Library of Poetry and Song, 1871

• Emotion
• Poetry
• Reading