“This image became something I had to be.”

Recalling how the childhood idea of becoming a poet shaped his identity · Interview, The Paris Review (1968)

• Childhood
• Identity
• Poetry

“The first thing I look for in a poem is a musical quality, a rhythm.”

Highlighting sound and rhythm as primary poetic qualities · Interview or essay, as commonly attributed

• Music
• Poetry

“I am a poet, a Welshman, and an alcoholic.”

A compressed and characteristic self-description, though the wording varies in sources · Interview or conversation, as commonly attributed

• Identity
• Poetry

“A poem should be as well-written as a piece of prose, and as well-constructed as a piece of architecture.”

Emphasising craft, structure and precision in poetry · Essay or lecture, as commonly attributed

• Art
• Poetry

“Do not be too eager to be a poet. Be too eager to be a human being.”

Putting humane experience before literary ambition · Advice or conversation, as commonly attributed

• Poetry
• Truth

“Poetry is the rhythmic creation of beauty in words.”

A concise account of poetry as beauty shaped through verbal rhythm · Essay or lecture, as commonly attributed

• Beauty
• Music
• Poetry

“Poetry is what you get when you don't know what you mean.”

Suggesting that poetry can discover meaning rather than simply express a settled idea · Conversation, as commonly attributed

• Poetry
• Truth

“What is Poetry?—The feeling of a Former world and Future.”

A compact definition linking poetry to memory and hope · Journal (Detached Thoughts, 1821)

• Hope
• Memory
• Poetry

“Poetry is the lava of the imagination whose eruption prevents an earthquake.”

Framing verse as a release valve for turbulent feeling · Journal (Ravenna Journal, 1821)

• Art
• Despair
• Poetry