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Stephen Dobyns Quotes - Page 2

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He thinks of that ocean house and wishes he were back in his former life or that one could take one moment and remain inside it like an egg inside its shell, instead of constantly being hurried into the future by good

He thinks of that ocean house and wishes he were back in his former life or that one could take one moment and remain inside it like an egg inside its shell, instead of constantly being hurried into the future by good luck or bad.

Stephen Dobyns
Ocean, Good Luck, Thinking
Stephen Dobyns (1984). “Black dog, red dog: poems”, Owl Books

Baudelaire's L'Héautontimorouménos was long seen to be a sexual sadomasochistic poem, it is now generally accepted that the poem is about writing poetry.

Stephen Dobyns
Writing, Long, Poetry
Stephen Dobyns (2011). “Next Word, Better Word: The Craft of Writing Poetry”, p.198, Macmillan

Other than fiction and poetry I tend to read history.

Stephen Dobyns
Fiction
Source: www.bostonglobe.com

I'm reading "The Sunset of a Splendid Century" by W.H. Lewis. He was C.S. Lewis's brother. He wrote two books about the French court of Louis XIV that are incredibly detailed. They are books that on every page you say, "Wow, think of that."

Stephen Dobyns
Brother, Reading, Book
Source: www.bostonglobe.com

I think I made a mistake with [Jane] Austen by reading all six in a row. There are similarities to the plots so by the time I got to the last one I could anticipate what was happening too easily. But her characterizations are amazing.

Stephen Dobyns
Mistake, Reading, Thinking
Source: www.bostonglobe.com

I had not read George Eliot, so read a few. I felt ashamed I hadn't read "Middlemarch" before.

Stephen Dobyns
Ashamed, Middlemarch, Eliot
Source: www.bostonglobe.com

I majored in English in college and that was my major in graduate school before switching to creative writing. I read a lot of [Charles] Dickens and [Anthony ] Trollope, but there was lots of stuff I hadn't read like Thackeray's "Vanity Fair," which is so well written and funny.

Stephen Dobyns
Writing, School, College
Source: www.bostonglobe.com

I remember coming upon Philip Larkin in my 20s in the early '60s and when Sylvia Plath's "Ariel" came out it knocked me off my feet.

Stephen Dobyns
Feet, Ariel, Remember
Source: www.bostonglobe.com

I never read Ford Madox Ford's "The Good Soldier." I've been reading books that I should have read years ago and did not. That's one of them.

Stephen Dobyns
Book, Reading, Years
Source: www.bostonglobe.com

I had a period when I read Nobel Prize winners. I figured they had to be good. I discovered some people I didn't know about, like the Icelandic writer Halldor Laxness, who wrote "Independent People." .

Stephen Dobyns
Independent, People, Winner
Source: www.bostonglobe.com

Louise Gluck, C.K. Williams, Thomas Lux. A lot of the poets that I like are the ones that influenced me as a writer.

Stephen Dobyns
Poet
Source: www.bostonglobe.com

Adolescence is a dreadful period. We tend to notice those youngsters who misbehave and call attention to themselves, but there are others, equally miserable, who receive no help simply because they are silent. (41)

Stephen Dobyns
Attention, Helping, Miserable

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