This poem is an exploration of the nature of Poetry. What is poetry? – well some commentary from famous poets. It was taken from my self-published book My Word in Your Ear.

Poetry 
 
unearths 
the best words 
the supreme fiction 
must be as well written as prose 
conceived and composed in the soul 
the spontaneous outflow 
a way of taking life 
the breath and finer 
shall tune her sacred voice 
in the pity 
the feverish fit 
the flower of experience 
a spark of inextinguishable thought 
the opening and closing 
should surprise 
should be great 
the achievement 
makes nothing happen 
what is lost in translation 
at bottom a criticism of life 

Footnote 
This is a ‘Cento poem’. A poetical work wholly composed of verses or passages taken from 
other authors, disposed in a new form or order. Each of the twenty lines uses text taken 
from quotes by famous poets on the nature of poetry - Keats, Wordsworth, Auden, Frost, 
Owen, Hunt, Pound, Coleridge, Finch, Shelley, Sandburg, Arnold, Hill and Stevens.
 
I have shown the quotes below …

Geoffrey Hill (English Poet) – Poetry unearths from among the speechless
dead
Coleridge – Poetry equals the best words in the best order
Wallace Stevens – Poetry is the supreme fiction, madame.
Ezra Pound – Poetry must be as well written as prose
Mathew Arnold – Poetry is conceived and composed in the soul
Wordsworth – Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings
Robert Frost – Poetry is a way of taking life by the throat
Wordsworth – Poetry is the breath and finer spirit of knowledge
Samuel Johnson – Poetry shall tune her sacred voice, and wake
from ignorance the Western World
Wilfred Owen – Poetry is in the pity of war
Anne Finch (English Poet) Poetry’s the feverish fit, the overflowing of
unbounded wit
Leigh Hunt – Poetry – I take to be the flower of any kind of experience
Shelley – Poetry – a single word may even be a spark of inextinguishable
thought
Carl Sanburg (American poet) – Poetry is the opening and closing of a
door, …
Keats – Poetry should surprise by a fine excess
Keats – Poetry should be great and unobtrusive
Carl Sanburg (American poet) – Poetry is the achievement of the synthesis
of hyacinths and biscuits
W. H. Auden – Poetry makes nothing happen
Robert Frost – Poetry is what is lost in translation
Matthew Arnold – Poetry is at bottom a criticism of life