“The charge frequently leveled against poetry - that it is difficult, obscure, hermetic and whatnot - indicates not the state of poetry but, frankly, the rung of the evolutionary ladder on which society is stuck.”
Joseph Brodsky“The charge frequently leveled against poetry - that it is difficult, obscure, hermetic and whatnot - indicates not the state of poetry but, frankly, the rung of the evolutionary ladder on which society is stuck.”
Joseph Brodsky“American poetry to me is a sort of relentless, nonstop sermon on human autonomy.”
Joseph Brodsky“I am a patriot, but I must say that English poetry is the richest in the world.”
Joseph Brodsky“The more one reads poetry, the less tolerant one becomes of any sort of verbosity, be that in political or philosophical discourse, be that in history, social studies or the art of fiction.”
Joseph Brodsky“To translate poetry, one has to possess some art, at the very least the art of stylistic re-embodiment.”
Joseph Brodsky“Poetry is rather an approach to things, to life, than it is typographical production.”
Joseph Brodsky“Poetry is not an art or a branch of art: it's something more.”
Joseph Brodsky“My idea is simply - is very simple - is that the books of poetry should be published in far greater volume and be distributed in far greater volume, in far more substantial manner. You can sell in supermarkets very cheaply. In paperbacks. You can sell in drugstores.”
Joseph Brodsky“American poetry is this country's greatest patrimony. It takes a stranger to see some things clearly. This is one of them, and I am that stranger.”
Joseph Brodsky“Anyone who regards poetry as an entertainment, as a 'read,' commits an anthropological crime, in the first place against himself.”
Joseph Brodsky