"So I suppose poetry, language, the shaping of it, was and remains for me an effort to make sense out of essentially senseless situations"
- Thomas Lynch
About this Quote
The quote by Thomas Lynch highlights the function of poetry and language in making good sense out of the chaotic and senseless experiences we come across in life. Through their innovative use of language, poets try to bring clearness and order to the complicated and overwhelming aspects of the human condition. For Lynch, this has been a long-lasting pursuit. His words suggest that by exploring and revealing the appeal, discomfort, and complexity of life, poets can help all of us discover significance and understanding-- even in the most challenging of situations. By shaping language, they can transform the senselessness of life into something more coherent and understandable.
"I think Ginsberg has done more harm to the craft that I honor and live by than anybody else by reducing it to a kind of mean that enables the most dubious practitioners to claim they are poets because they think, If the kind of thing Ginsberg does is poetry, I can do that"
"Nothing truly convincing - which would possess thoroughness, vigor, and skill - has been written against the ancients as yet; especially not against their poetry"
"The dance can reveal everything mysterious that is hidden in music, and it has the additional merit of being human and palpable. Dancing is poetry with arms and legs"
"A book is sent out into the world, and there is no way of fully anticipating the responses it will elicit. Consider the responses called forth by the Bible, Homer, Shakespeare - let alone contemporary poetry or a modern novel"