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Henry David Thoreau Quotes about Poetry

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Poetry is the mysticism of mankind.

Poetry is the mysticism of mankind.

Henry David Thoreau
Poetry, Mankind, Mysticism
Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Quotable Thoreau: An A to Z Glossary of Inspiring Quotations from Henry David Thoreau”, p.77, BookBaby

Poetry is the only life got, the only work done, the only pure product and free labor of man, performed only when he has put all the world under his feet, and conquered the last of his foes.

Henry David Thoreau
Men, Feet, Poetry
Henry David Thoreau (2013). “The Essential Thoreau”, p.279, Simon and Schuster

Our taste is too delicate and particular. It says nay to the poet's work, but never yea to his hope.

Henry David Thoreau
Poetry, Criticism, Taste
Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry David Thoreau (Illustrated)”, p.1056, Delphi Classics

The works of great poets have never been read by mankind, for only great poets can read them.

Henry David Thoreau
Poetry, Poet, Mankind

The poet is he who can write some pure mythology today without the aid of posterity.

Henry David Thoreau
Writing, Poetry, Today
Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry David Thoreau (Illustrated)”, p.59, Delphi Classics

The great poem must have the stamp of greatness as well as its essence.

Henry David Thoreau
Greatness, Essence, Poetry
Henry David Thoreau (2013). “The Essential Thoreau”, p.715, Simon and Schuster

As long as there is satire, the poet is, as it were, particeps criminis.

Henry David Thoreau
Long, Poetry, Poet
Henry David Thoreau (2014). “The Illustrated "A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers"”, p.308, Princeton University Press

Much of our poetry has the very best manners, but no character.

Henry David Thoreau
Character, Poetry, Style
Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry David Thoreau (Illustrated)”, p.279, Delphi Classics

We are all of us Apollos serving some Admetus.

Henry David Thoreau
Poetry, Poet, Labor
Henry David Thoreau (2014). “Familiar Letters (Annotated Edition)”, p.40, Jazzybee Verlag

The science of Humboldt is one thing, poetry is another thing. The poet to-day, notwithstanding all the discoveries of science, and the accumulated learning of mankind, enjoys no advantage over Homer.

Henry David Thoreau
Science, Discovery, Poetry
Henry David Thoreau (2012). “The Portable Thoreau”, p.405, Penguin

My life has been the poem I would have writ, But I could not both live and utter it.

Henry David Thoreau
Poetry, Has Beens
Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Quotable Thoreau: An A to Z Glossary of Inspiring Quotations from Henry David Thoreau”, p.59, BookBaby

Poetry implies the whole truth. Philosophy expresses a particle of it.

Henry David Thoreau
Truth, Philosophy, Poetry
"The Journal of Henry David Thoreau, 1837-1861".

Good poetry seems so simple and natural a thing that when we meet it we wonder that all men are not always poets. Poetry is nothing but healthy speech.

Henry David Thoreau
Simple, Men, Poetry
Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry David Thoreau (Illustrated)”, p.2097, Delphi Classics

The genuine remains of Ossian, or those ancient poems which bear his name, though of less fame and extent, are, in many respects,of the same stamp with the Iliad itself. He asserts the dignity of the bard no less than Homer, and in his era, we hear of no other priest than he.

Henry David Thoreau
Names, Poetry, Eras
Henry David Thoreau (2016). “A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers”, p.244, Xist Publishing

The poet will maintain serenity in spite of all disappointments. He is expected to preserve an unconcerned and healthy outlook over the world, while he lives.

Henry David Thoreau
Disappointment, Serenity, Poetry
Henry David Thoreau (2013). “The Essential Thoreau”, p.279, Simon and Schuster

Exaggerated history is poetry, and truth referred to a new standard.

Henry David Thoreau
Truth, History, Poetry
Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry David Thoreau (Illustrated)”, p.1089, Delphi Classics

The poet is blithe and cheery ever, and as well as nature.

Henry David Thoreau
Poetry, Poet, Blithe
Henry David Thoreau (2013). “The Essential Thoreau”, p.279, Simon and Schuster

A township where one primitive forest waves above while another primitive forest rots below,--such a town is fitted to raise not only corn and potatoes, but poets and philosophers for the coming ages. In such a soil grew Homer and Confucius and the rest, and out of such a wilderness comes the Reformer eating locusts and wild honey.

Henry David Thoreau
Poetry, Age, Honey
Henry David Thoreau (1993). “Civil Disobedience, and Other Essays”, p.63, Courier Corporation

We have heard much about the poetry of mathematics, but very little of it has yet been sung. The ancients had a juster notion of their poetic value than we.

Henry David Thoreau
Poetry, Littles, Poetic
Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry David Thoreau (Illustrated)”, p.270, Delphi Classics

A true poem is distinguished not so much by a felicitous expression, or any thought it suggests, as by the atmosphere which surrounds it. Most have beauty of outline merely, and are striking as the form and bearing of a stranger; but true verses come toward us indistinctly, as the very breath of all friendliness, and envelop us in their spirit and fragrance.

Henry David Thoreau
Beauty, Expression, Poetry
Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry David Thoreau (Illustrated)”, p.279, Delphi Classics

The poet uses the results of science and philosophy, and generalizes their widest deductions.

Henry David Thoreau
Philosophy, Philosophical, Poetry
Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry David Thoreau (Illustrated)”, p.271, Delphi Classics

Poetry is nothing but healthy speech.

Henry David Thoreau
Poetry, Healthy, Speech
Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry David Thoreau (Illustrated)”, p.2097, Delphi Classics

Yet poetry, though the last and finest result, is a natural fruit. As naturally as the oak bears an acorn, and the vine a gourd, man bears a poem, either spoken or done. It is the chief and most memorable success, for history is but a prose narrative of poetic deeds.

Henry David Thoreau
Memorable, Men, Poetry
Henry David Thoreau (1873). “A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers”, p.99

But the divinest poem, or the life of a great man, is the severest satire.... The greater the genius, the keener the edge of the satire.

Henry David Thoreau
Men, Poetry, Genius
Henry David Thoreau (2017). “Journeys, Adventures & Life in Harmony with Nature – 6 Book Collection (Illustrated): Including Walden, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, The Maine Woods, Cape Cod, A Yankee in Canada & Canoeing in the Wilderness - North American Highlands Series”, p.231, e-artnow

When I stand in a library where is all the recorded wit of the world, but none of the recording, a mere accumulated, and not trulycumulative treasure; where immortal works stand side by side with anthologies which did not survive their month, and cobweb and mildew have already spread from these to the binding of those; and happily I am reminded of what poetry is,--I perceive that Shakespeare and Milton did not foresee into what company they were to fall. Alas! that so soon the work of a true poet should be swept into such a dust-hole!

Henry David Thoreau
Fall, Dust, Poetry
Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry David Thoreau (Illustrated)”, p.256, Delphi Classics

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