Stanley Kunitz
Stanley Kunitz
Stanley Jasspon Kunitzwas an American poet. He was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress twice, first in 1974 and then again in 2000...
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth29 July 1905
CityWorcester, MA
heart dark break
The heart breaks and breaks and lives by breaking it is necessary to go through dark and deeper dark and not to turn
secret poet knows
A poem has secrets that the poet knows nothing of.
dream garden perfection
We have all been expelled from the Garden, but the ones who suffer most in exile are those who are still permitted to dream of perfection.
dog needs half
Some poems present themselves as cliffs that need to be climbed. Others are so defensive that when you approach their enclosure you half expect to be met by a snarling dog at the gate. Still others want to smother you with their sticky charms.
dream art writing
I want to write poems that are natural, luminous, deep, spare. I dream of an art so transparent that you can look through and see the world.
needs alive wilderness
A poet needs to keep his wilderness alive inside him.
joy survival surviving
I dance/for the joy of surviving, at the edge of the road.
doors window
I like an ending that's both a door and a window.
technique poet caught
An old poet ought never to be caught with his technique showing.
made critics feels
One critic wrote . . . that my poems sounded as though they had been translated from the Hungarian. I don't know why, but somehow that made me feel quite lighthearted.
writing mind ears
The ear writes my poems, not the mind.
poetry language poetry-is
Poetry is language surprised in the act of changing into meaning.
spirit cherish modern
Certainly the modern poets I cherish most are disturbing spirits; they do not come to coo.
enemy poetry-is
Poetry is the enemy of the poem.