One can't have it both ways and both ways is the only way I want it. A. R. Ammons More Quotes by A. R. Ammons More Quotes From A. R. Ammons To be saved is here, local and mortal A. R. Ammons mortals locals saved The poet exposes himself to the risk. All that has been said about poetry, all that he has learned about poetry, is only a partial assurance. A. R. Ammons risk poet said Definition, rationality, and structure are ways of seeing, but they become prisons when they blank out other ways of seeing. A. R. Ammons definitions vision way Each poem in becoming generates the laws by which it is generated: extensions of the laws to other poems never completely take. A. R. Ammons extensions becoming law It's not a love of poetry readings that attracts those who do come to them but theater. A. R. Ammons theater poetry-reading reading I take the walk to be the externalization of an interior seeking so that the analogy is first of all between the external and the internal. A. R. Ammons analogies walks firsts If we ask a vague question, such as, 'What is poetry?' we expect a vague answer, such as, 'Poetry is the music of words,' or 'Poetry is the linguistic correction of disorder.' A. R. Ammons what-is-poetry disorder answers There's something to be said in favor of working in isolation in the real world. A. R. Ammons favors real world I can't tell you where a poem comes from, what it is, or what it is for: nor can any other man. The reason I can't tell you is that the purpose of a poem is to go past telling, to be recognised by burning. A. R. Ammons purpose men past Even if you walk exactly the same route each time - as with a sonnet - the events along the route cannot be imagined to be the same from day to day, as the poet's health, sight, his anticipations, moods, fears, thoughts cannot be the same. A. R. Ammons anticipation events sight I am grateful for - though I can't keep up with - the flood of articles, theses, and textbooks that mean to share insight concerning the nature of poetry. A. R. Ammons textbooks grateful mean Probably all the attention to poetry results in some value, though the attention is more often directed to lesser than to greater values A. R. Ammons greater results attention The wonderful workings of the world: wonderful, A. R. Ammons half wonderful world I have a life that did not become, A. R. Ammons life Attend to mushrooms and all other things will answer up. A. R. Ammons mushrooms answers The walk liberating, I was released from forms, from the perpendiculars, straight lines, blocks, boxes, binds of thought into the hues, shadings, rises, flowing bends and blends of sight. A. R. Ammons hue block sight With the first step, the number of shapes the walk might take is infinite, but then the walk begins to define itself as it goes along, though freedom remains total with each step: any tempting side road can be turned into an impulse, or any wild patch of woods can be explored. The pattern of the walk is to come true, is to be recognized, discovered. A. R. Ammons hiking journey numbers Besides the actual reading in class of many poems, I would suggest you do two things: first, while teaching everything you can and keeping free of it, teach that poetry is a mode of discourse that differs from logical exposition A. R. Ammons reading teaching class If a poem is each time new, then it is necessarily an act of discovery, a chance taken, a chance that may lead to fulfillment or disaster A. R. Ammons taken may discovery Questions structure and, so, to some extent predetermine answers. A. R. Ammons some questions structure answers
