Quotation by

Laura Riding

The end of poetry is not to create a physical condition which shall give pleasure to the mind... The end of poetry is not an after-effect, not a pleasurable memory of itself, but an immediate, constant and even unpleasant insistence upon itself.

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Understanding this quote AI Analysis

Laura Riding is saying that poetry’s purpose isn’t to simply make the reader feel good or remember a pleasant experience later. Instead, poetry demands ongoing attention and challenges the reader, even if that feeling is uncomfortable or difficult.

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It is written on the arched sky it looks out from every star. It is the poetry of Nature it is that which uplifts the spirit within us.
A man of eighty has outlived probably three new schools of painting, two of architecture and poetry and a hundred in dress.

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The greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world... to see clearly is poetry, prophecy and religion all in one.
It is the hour to be drunken! to escape being the martyred slaves of time, be ceaselessly drunk. On wine, on poetry, or on virtue, as you wish.
We especially need imagination in science. It is not all mathematics, nor all logic, but it is somewhat beauty and poetry.