Great men are rare, poets are rarer, but the great man who is a poet, transfiguring his greatness — John Drinkwater
But in the finished art of the song the use of words has no connection with the use of words in poetry. — John Drinkwater
For while the subjects of poetry are few and recurrent, the moods of man are infinitely various and unstable. — John Drinkwater
A lyric, it is true, is the expression of personal emotion, but then so is all poetry — John Drinkwater
It is commonly asserted and accepted that paradise lost is among the two or three greatest english poems — John Drinkwater
If it is an imperfect word, no external circumstance can heighten its value as poetry. — John Drinkwater
When the poet makes his perfect selection of a word, he is endowing the word with life. — John Drinkwater
To take an analogy: if we say that a democratic government is the best kind of government — John Drinkwater
So it is in poetry. All we ask is that the mood recorded shall impress us as having been — John Drinkwater
Poetry being the sign of that which all men desire, even though the desire be unconscious — John Drinkwater
Poetry is the communication through words of certain experiences that can be communicated in no other way. — John Drinkwater
The poet’s perfect expression is the token of a perfect experience; what he says in the best — John Drinkwater