Today is the last Monday in April, which means National Poetry Month is coming to a close. To wrap up our celebration, I wanted to leave you with these powerful quotes on poetry, by poets and other members of the literary world.

Enjoy, and my you find poetry wherever you go!

Some Quotes on Poetry:

“Again, the poet should work out his play, to the best of his power, with appropriate gestures; for those who feel emotion are most convincing through natural sympathy with the characters they represent; and one who is agitated storms, one who is angry rages, with the most life-like reality. Hence poetry implies either a happy gift of nature or a strain of madness. In the one case a man can take the mould of any character; in the other, he is lifted out of his proper self.” – The Poetics of Aristotle, composed around 335 BCE.

“A poem is the very image of life expressed in its eternal truth.”– A Defense of Poetry and Other Essays by Percy Bysshe Shelley, published around1840.

“I am apt to like a poet who writes about unusual things. It seems to me to be the best proof of a real poet.”– Robert Frost, in an interview to the Boston Traveler, 1921.

“If you can’t tell which [poems] are your best, it’s too early for you to be thinking about publication.”– Billy Collins in an interview for the Writer’s Almanac, 2017.

“The poet, first and foremost an individual with a personal vision, is also a member of society. What affects society affects a poet.”– Gwendolyn Brooks in an interview with Poets.org, 2017

“When there’s uncertainty, when you’re looking for meaning beyond this world–that takes people to poetry. We need something to counter the hate speech, the divisiveness, and it’s possible with poetry.”– Joy Harjo in an interview with TIME Magazine, 2019

“Poetry is a way of living, not a way of writing. You can be a poet without writing a word. It’s all in how you live your life.”- Lee Pennington during a writing workshop at Imaginarium, 2025 (I transcribed it myself).

Final Thoughts:

Remember, you don’t have to wait until National Poetry Month to celebrate poetry! If you enjoy poetry, tell the authors! Share the work! Leave reviews! Read it to your pets! Recite it in the shower! Mumble it while you work!

There’s no wrong way to celebrate poetry, so go forth and let the world know how much it means to you!

I know I will.