Rita Dove Quotes on Literature (16 Quotes)

I was apprehensive. I feared every time I talked about poetry, it would be filtered through the lens of race, sex, and age.

People write me from all over the country, asking me, and sometimes even telling me, what they think a poet laureate should do. I found that immensely valuable.

If we're going to solve the problems of the world, we have to learn how to talk to one another. Poetry is the language at its essence. It's the bones and the skeleton of the language. It teaches you, if nothing else, how to choose your words.

I have a high guilt quotient. A poem can go through as many as 50 or 60 drafts. It can take from a day to two years-or longer.

I try to show what it is about language and music that enthralls, because I think those are the two elements of poetry.

In working on a poem, I love to revise. Lots of younger poets don't enjoy this, but in the process of revision I discover things.

We tend to be so bombarded with information. . . This is antithetical to the kind of openness and perception you have to have to be receptive to poetry. . . . poetry seems to exist in a parallel universe outside daily life in America.

My favorite poets may not be your bread and butter. I have more favorite poems than favorite poets.

For years, I had heard about the lack of interest in literature in the U.S. and I had complained about it. I failed to understand how people could fail to be moved by art.

Under adversity, under oppression, the words begin to fail, the easy words begin to fail. In order to convey things accurately, the human being is almost forced to find the most precise words possible, which is a precondition for literature.

Being Poet Laureate made me realize I was capable of a larger voice. There is a more public utterance I can make as a poet.

There are distinct duties of a poet laureate. I plan a reading series at the Library of Congress and advise the librarian. The rest is how I want to promote poetry.

For many years, I thought a poem was a whisper overheard, not an aria heard.

I see a resurgence of interest in poetry. I am less optimistic about the prospects for the arts when it comes to federal funding.

Have you ever heard a good joke? If you've ever heard someone just right, with the right pacing, then you're already on the way to poetry. It's about using words in very precise ways and using gesture.

Poetry is language at its most distilled and most powerful.