My poetry changed when I was 15 years old. One of my uncles, Leo, had written poetry when he was a young man, and he took me down to the family business and he opened a safe and showed me some poems he'd written when he was 19. He also gave me a book of the collected poems of Shelley. And I still have that book.
More Quotes from Kenneth Koch:
Certainly, it seems true enough that there's a good deal of irony in the world... I mean, if you live in a world full of politicians and advertising, there's obviously a lot of deception.Kenneth Koch
As I look over my work, I mean every time I look over my early work, I see, yes, I could do that then and then I could do that and that... That may be the hardest thing for a writer, at least for a poet, to tell what the identity of his work is.
Kenneth Koch
I'm a writer who likes to be influenced.
Kenneth Koch
As for political poetry, as it's usually defined, it seems there's very little good political poetry.
Kenneth Koch
In a family one sister may conceal another,
So, when you are courting, it's best to have them all in view
Otherwise in coming to find one you may love another.
Kenneth Koch
I think my poetry was very influenced-it seems almost dumb to say it-but it was very influenced by Shakespeare. Very early on I read his plays... and, I don't know, I started speaking in blank verse at a rather early age.
Kenneth Koch
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Based on Topics: Books Quotes, Family Quotes, Literature Quotes, Man Quotes, Poetry Quotes, Youth QuotesBased on Keywords: shelley
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