Witty and inspiring quotations about poetry in honour of National Poetry Day

As it’s National Poetry Day here in the UK (held in early October every year, usually on the first or second Thursday in the month), we’ve gathered together some of our favourite quotations (or quotes, depending on your preference) about poetry and poets, from the poetry of the everyday to the big philosophical questions which poetry presents us with. Where we’ve included a link on the author’s name, you’ll find more information about them – interesting facts, more quotations, or biographical material. We hope you enjoy the quotations.

There is no money in poetry, but then there is no poetry in money, either. – Robert Graves

Poetry is the rhythmical creation of beauty in words. – Edgar Allan Poe

There is no Frigate like a Book / To take us Lands away, / Nor any Coursers like a…

Source: Beauty Matters

Everybody says our twenties are meant to be insane – full of upheaval and learning about ourselves and figuring out what it is we really truly want out of this crazy mixed up world. That’s the point of them, right? As a nearly-30 single lady in New York, with all your usual Real Life nonsense to contend with, mine certainly fit the bill –  I moved to NYC, handled a bad break up, and finally figured out how to pull all the strands of my personality together to make a Real Live Functioning Human. Mostly.

Enter my life in fandom. Sure, I was a geek from the word go, but that was mostly in my own little world, not really interacting with the wide geeky world at large. Twitter freaked me out and my Magic cards collected dust as my old group of players were scattered across the country. That all started to change about a year ago, when I figured out…

I’m extremely pleased that five of my poems appear in the latest edition of Mezzo Cammin, a web journal devoted to formal poetry by women, edited by Kim Bridgford and beautifully designed by Anna M. Evans, both of whom are excellent poets–of formal verse–themselves.

My poetry often varies as to style; I am not a dedicated formalist, but I feel that writers learn a great deal from experimenting with many styles. Learning to write a sonnet, for example, requires considerable effort and ideally results in the production of many lousy sonnets. Many, many lousy sonnets. Until, one day, the motivation, language, imagery, and form coalesce into a good sonnet. The challenge derives in part from the frame and form the sonnet uses; other challenges arise with sestinas, rondelets, villanelles, haiku, sapphics, and (yes) free verse. Practice does not always make perfect in the case of poetry, but practice…

Strong female characters are hard to come by. Often times its because they’re shoved into the background or their storyline is cut short because of death, poor writing, or show cancellation. Women want to be represented on television just as much as their male counterparts – and not just to be the romantic interest.

That’s why its so incredibly important for ABC to renew Marvel’s Agent Carter. So here’s a list of reasons as to why the story of Agent Carter and her creation of S.H.I.E.L.D. is one of the most valuable television shows that needs to be renewed.

1) Agent Carter is a strong female role model.

Peggy is a strong character. She sticks to her values, knows her value to the SSR, and continues to do whatever it takes to fight for what is right. With Captain America gone, someone has to continue to fight the good fight.

There’s a lot to be said about the effect ‘strong female characters’* have on female audiences.

Women can inspire, teach, and lead a generation of viewers into a new appreciation of femininity.  When written well, female characters can show girls that they can break boundaries, and do it looking fabulous, if they want to.  They can show us women have flaws, and that’s okay.  Female representations are important because they can do all these things and more; from inspiring girls to become whatever they want, to showing a level of confidence girls can aspire to achieve.

I was reminded of this recently.

For a while now I’ve been interested in the way the gender’s inhabit space.  Sparked by a gender studies class in my first year of university, I became obsessed with observing people and their actions; the way they sat on trains, the way people walk in the city…