(August 11, 1897 – February 4, 1970 / Maine)

poet Louise Bogan
#233 on top 500 poets

Quotations

  • ''Because language is the carrier of ideas, it is easy to believe that it should be very little else than such a carrier.''
    Louise Bogan (1897-1970), U.S. poet, critic. "A Revolution in European Poetry," (written 1941), published in A Poet's Alphabet (1970).
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  • ''It is not possible, for a poet, writing in any language, to protect himself from the tragic elements in human life.... [ellipsis in source] Illness, old age, and death—subjects as ancient as humanity—these are the subjects that the poet must speak of very nearly from the first moment that he begins to speak.''
    Louise Bogan (1897-1970), U.S. poet. As quoted in Our Ground Time Here Will be Brief, Epigram, by Maxine Kumin (1982).
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  • ''Song, like a wing, tears through my breast, my side,
    And madness chooses out my voice again,
    Again.''
    Louise Bogan (1897-1970), U.S. poet, critic. Cassandra (l. 4-6). . . The Blue Estuaries; Poems 1923-1968 [Louise Bogan]. (1968; repr. 1988) Ecco Press.
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  • ''But childhood prolonged, cannot remain a fairyland. It becomes a hell.''
    Louise Bogan (1897-1970), U.S. poet and critic. repr. In Selected Criticism: Poetry and Prose (1955). "Childhood's False Eden," (1940). Referring to Katherine Mansfield.
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  • ''But childhood prolonged, cannot remain a fairyland. It becomes a hell.''
    Louise Bogan (1897-1970), U.S. poet and critic. repr. In Selected Criticism: Poetry and Prose (1955). "Childhood's False Eden," (1940). Referring to Katherine Mansfield.
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  • ''The cats will be glad; the fathers feel justified; the mothers
    relieved.
    The sons and husbands will no longer need to pay the bills.
    Childhoods will be put away, the obscene nightmare abated.''
    Louise Bogan (1897-1970), U.S. poet, critic. Evening in the Sanitarium (l. 21-23). . . The Blue Estuaries; Poems 1923-1968 [Louise Bogan]. (1968; repr. 1988) Ecco Press.
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  • ''The women rest their tired half-healed hearts; they are almost
    well.''
    Louise Bogan (1897-1970), U.S. poet, critic. Evening in the Sanitarium (l. 6). . . The Blue Estuaries; Poems 1923-1968 [Louise Bogan]. (1968; repr. 1988) Ecco Press.
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  • ''You will be again as normal and selfish and heartless as anybody
    else.''
    Louise Bogan (1897-1970), U.S. poet, critic. Evening in the Sanitarium (l. 15). . . The Blue Estuaries; Poems 1923-1968 [Louise Bogan]. (1968; repr. 1988) Ecco Press.
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  • ''O fortunate bride, who never again will become elated after
    childbirth!
    O lucky older wife, who has been cured of feeling unwanted!''
    Louise Bogan (1897-1970), U.S. poet, critic. Evening in the Sanitarium (l. 11-12). . . The Blue Estuaries; Poems 1923-1968 [Louise Bogan]. (1968; repr. 1988) Ecco Press.
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  • ''the bare eyes were before me
    And the hissing hair,
    Held up at a window, seen through a door.
    The stiff bald eyes, the serpents on the forehead
    Formed in the air.''
    Louise Bogan (1897-1970), U.S. poet, critic. Medusa (l. 5-9). . . The Blue Estuaries; Poems 1923-1968 [Louise Bogan]. (1968; repr. 1988) Ecco Press.
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Roman Fountain

Up from the bronze, I saw
Water without a flaw
Rush to its rest in air,
Reach to its rest, and fall.

Bronze of the blackest shade,
An element man-made,
Shaping upright the bare
Clear gouts of water in air.

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