Poets on Poetry - Robert Frost

"To be a poet is a condition, not a profession."

"Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words."

"Poetry is what gets lost in translation."


Robert Frost
(1874 - 1963)

Robert Frost, known for taking "the road less traveled by," certainly carved his own creative niche in the poetic world. In his words and his works, he pointed out the idiosyncrasies of the wordsmithing artist. A true poet is bound by his unceasing need to write. This does, indeed, make the poetic profession more like a prepossessing condition.

Many poems do begin in emotion, which then finds expression in verbal form (either spoken or written). Song lyrics may arise from similar origins. At least, the best ones seem to do so!

Poetry resists paraphrasing. Certainly, a Shakespearean sonnet may be reinterpreted into modern language, but not without sacrificing much of its beauty. Poems generally do not fare well when translated from one language to another. Rhythm, meter, rhyme and poetic language may suffer greatly from paraphrasing. When it comes to poetry, nothing beats the original, whether the tone be tragic, poignant or amusing.

Regarding humor and fun in poetry, Frost said this:

"A poem begins in delight and ends in wisdom."

In the words of Motown's Smokey Robinson, "I second that emotion!"