Poetry 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
Poetry First 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
Purpose Past Man 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
Laws May A poem generated by its own laws may be unrealized and bad in terms of so-called objective principles of taste, judgement, deduction. - A. R. Ammons
Nature 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
And History will smile to think that this is the species for which Socrates and Jesus Christ died. - Julien Benda
Bereavement is the sharpest challenge to our trust in God; if faith can overcome this, there is no mountain which it cannot remove. - Dean Inge