The Role of the Poet

"I would like not to define thoughts but to cause thinking."

"A painting is never finished. It simply stops in interesting places."

"There is no mystique or formula for understanding poetry. If you think there is, you probably have an overreverent about poetry, or you have been convinced that only one interpretation is possible."

"I'm not sure most poets think about audience at all."

AWP 2006.

Criticism can't, according to this view, ever ascend to the rank of cheekily imaginative, amphibiously personal, or transcendently moral writing. But I disagree...Critics can change our minds by using theirs. What could be more artful?"

1) argument summary
2) what's most compelling about it / how does it relate to my project?
3) what should have it done that it didn't do?
4) list of quotes