Though philosophers like to define poetry as irrational fancy, for us it is practical, humorous, reasonable way of being ourselves.

Robert Graves

Categorized in : Poetry Humorous Fancy

I revise the manuscript till I can't read it any longer, then I get somebody to type it. Then I revise the typing. Then it's retyped again. Then there's a third typing, which is the final one. Nothing should then remain that offends the eye.

finals eye should

The poet's first rule must be never to bore his readers; and his best way of keeping this rule is never to bore himself-which, of course, means to write only when he has something urgent to say.

writing mean way

What we now call "finance" is, I hold, an intellectual perversion... by Robert Graves

What we now call "finance" is, I hold, an intellectual perversion of what began as warm human love.

finance humans intellectual

The gas-cylinders had by this time been put into position on the front line. A special order came round imposing severe penalties on anyone who used any word but "accessory" in speaking of the gas. This was to keep it secret, but the French civilians knew all about the scheme long before this.

To recommend a monarchy on account of the prosperity it gives the provinces seems to me like recommending that a man should have liberty to treat his children as slaves, if at the same time he treats his slaves with reasonable consideration.

should-have men children

A perfect poem is impossible. Once it had been written, the world... by Robert Graves

A perfect poem is impossible. Once it had been written, the world would end.

immature poetry perfect

The award of a pure gold medal for poetry would flatter the recipient unduly: no poem ever attains such carat purity.

awards gold writing

Since the age of 15 poetry has been my ruling passion and I have never intentionally undertaken any task or formed any relationship that seemed inconsistent with poetic principles; which has sometimes won me the reputation of an eccentric.

passion principles age

One gets to the heart of the matter by a series of experiences in the same pattern, but in different colors.

color different heart

For words of rapture groping, they"Never such love," swore "ever... by Robert Graves

For words of rapture groping, they"Never such love," swore "ever before was!"

rapture i-love-you love-you

He found a formula for drawing comic rabbits: by Robert Graves

He found a formula for drawing comic rabbits:

drawing rabbits philosophy

Let all the poison that lurks in the mud, hatch out. by Robert Graves

Let all the poison that lurks in the mud, hatch out.

Anthropologists are a connecting link between poets and scientists; though their field-work among primitive peoples has often made them forget the language of science.

language fields links

I made no more protests. What was the use of struggling against f... by Robert Graves

I made no more protests. What was the use of struggling against fate

fate use struggle

Prose books are the show dogs I breed and sell to support my cat. by Robert Graves

Prose books are the show dogs I breed and sell to support my cat.

Philosophy is antipoetic. Philosophize about mankind and you brush aside individual uniqueness, which a poet cannot do without self-damage. Unless, for a start, he has a strong personal rhythm to vary his metrics, he is nothing. Poets mistrust philosophy. They know that once the heads are counted, each owner of a head loses his personal identify and becomes a number in some government scheme: if not as a slave or serf, at least as a party to the device of majority voting, which smothers personal views.

party strong philosophy

Marriage, like money, is still with us; and, like money, progress... by Robert Graves

Marriage, like money, is still with us; and, like money, progressively devalued.

marriage witty funny

Take your delight in momentariness, Walk between dark and dark a shining space With the grave 's narrowness, though not its peace.

space shining dark

About this business of being a gentleman: I paid so heavily for the fourteen years of my gentleman's education that I feel entitled, now and then, to get some sort of return.

return gentleman years

Poetry is no more a narcotic than a stimulant; it is a universal bittersweet mixture for all possible household emergencies and its action varies accordingly as it is taken in a wineglass or a tablespoon, inhaled, gargled or rubbed on the chest by hard fingers covered with rings.

mixtures emergencies taken