“The things that matter most are the things that cannot be held in the…” — Sara Teasdale

“The things that matter most are the things that cannot be held in the hand.”

Pointing towards the value of memory, feeling, and imagination · Journal and correspondence, commonly attributed

Memory
Truth

About Sara Teasdale

8 August 1884–29 January 1933

Sara Teasdale was born on 8 August 1884 in St. Louis, Missouri, and died there on 29 January 1933. During her lifetime she became one of the best-known American lyric poets of the early twentieth century, admired for verse that appeared effortless: brief, melodious, emotionally direct, and exquisitely shaped. Her…

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Poems by Sara Teasdale

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“Any poem not so written is only a piece of craftsmanship.”

Distinguishing genuine emotional necessity from technical skill alone · Statement on poetic craft, in Marguerite Wilkinson, New Voices, 1919

“For generations readers have been accustomed to certain forms of rhythms and to certain rhyme-schemes.”

Recognising the accumulated familiarity of traditional poetic forms · Statement on poetic craft, in Marguerite Wilkinson, New Voices, 1919

Music
Poetry

“It may be present for some time before the poet is conscious of what is tormenting him.”

Recognising that the impulse towards poetry may precede conscious understanding · Statement on poetic craft, in Marguerite Wilkinson, New Voices, 1919

Poetry
Truth

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Sara Teasdale — a remark

About Sara Teasdale

Poems by Sara Teasdale

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