Quotes by Mark Strand

About Mark Strand:

Mark Strand was a Canadian-born American poet, essayist and translator. He was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1990 and received the Wallace Stevens Award in 2004. Strand was a professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University from 2005 until his death in 2014.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

I would say that American poetry has always been a poetry of personal testimony.

Mark Strand

I certainly can't speak for all cultures or all societies, but it's clear that in America, poetry serves a very marginal purpose. It's not part of the cultural mainstream.

Mark Strand

I believe that all poetry is formal in that it exists within limits, limits that are either inherited by tradition or limits that language itself imposes.

Mark Strand

And yet, in a culture like ours, which is given to material comforts, and addicted to forms of entertainment that offer immediate gratification, it is surprising that so much poetry is written.

Mark Strand

And at least in poetry you should feel free to lie. That is, not to lie, but to imagine what you want, to follow the direction of the poem.

Mark Strand

Author Bio

  • NameMark Strand
  • DescriptionCanadian-American poet, essayist, translator
  • BornApril 11, 1934
  • DiedNovember 29, 2014
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionPoet; Writer; Translator
  • AwardsGuggenheim Fellowship; MacArthur Fellows Program; Rome Prize; Bollingen Prize; Pulitzer Prize For Poetry