WIST Quotations

Horace -- Epistles [Epistularum, Letters], Book 2, ep. 3 “Art of Poetry [Ars Poetica; To the Pisos],” l. 99ff (2.3.99-100) (19 BC) [tr. Palmer Bovie (1959)]

Dave — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 19:00:43 +0000

It isn’t enough for poems to be things of beauty:
Let them stun the hearer and lead his heart where they will.

[Non satis est pulchra esse poemata; dulcia sunto
Et, quocumque uolent, animum auditoris agunto.]

Horace (65–8 BC) Roman poet, satirist, soldier, politician [Quintus Horatius Flaccus]
Epistles [Epistularum, Letters], Book 2, ep. 3 “Art of Poetry [Ars Poetica; To the Pisos],” l. 99ff (2.3.99-100) (19 BC) [tr. Palmer Bovie (1959)]
(Source)

One of the most famous lines in the Ars Poetica.

(Source (Latin)). Other translations:

Not lore enough in Poesis, let them be sweetlye fynde,
And let them leade to where them liste the hearers plyante mynde.
[tr. Drant (1567)]

Tis not enough the labouring Muse affords
Her Poëms beauty, but a sweet delight,
To worke the hearers minds, still to the plight.
[tr. Jonson (1640); l. 140ff]

He that would have Spectators share his Grief,
Must write not only well, but movingly,
And raise Mens Passions to what height he will.
[tr. Roscommon (1680)]

'Tis not enough, ye writers, that ye charm
With ease and elegance; a play should warm
With soft concernment; should possess the soul,
And, as it wills, the listening crowd controul.
[tr. Francis (1747)]

'Tis not enough that Plays are polish'd, chaste,
Or trickt in all the harlotry of taste,
They must have passion too; beyond controul
Transporting where they please the hearer's soul.
[tr. Coleman (1783)]

'Tis not enough that poetry combine
All fancy's charms in every sounding line:
Empassion'd let her be, and melt at will
The soul to pity or with horror thrill.
[tr. Howes (1845)]

It is not enough that poems be beautiful; let them be tender and affecting, and bear away the soul of the auditor whithersoever they please.
[tr. Smart/Buckley (1853)]

Mere grace is not enough: a play should thrill
The hearer's soul, and move it at its will.
[tr. Conington (1874)]

Fine things won't make a drama: it must thrill
The hearers' souls, and sway them at its will.
[tr. Martin (1881)]

Nor is it enough that poems possess beauty in the construction. They must please and, in whatsoever direction they will, send there the feelings of the auditors.
[tr. Elgood (1893)]

Not enough is it for poems to have beauty: they must have charm, and lead the hearer's soul where they will.
[tr. Fairclough (Loeb) (1926)]

It is not enough for poems to be fine; they must charm, and draw the mind of the listener at will.
[tr. Blakeney; ed. Kraemer (1936)]

It isn't enough to make lines pretty; they must move,
and affect the hearer's soul exactly as the poet wants.
[tr. Fuchs (1977)]

Poems (oh)
can be (oh)
so beautiful
And (oh) so dull.
Poets need charm, too, to seduce our minds.
[tr. Raffel (1983 ed.)]

Sheer abstract beauty isn't enough in a poem;
Its language must so persuade the listener
And act upon his soul that he'll respond
As the poem intends.
[tr. Ferry (2001)]

Correctness is not enough in a poem; it must be attractive,
leading the listener's emotions in whatever way it wishes.
[tr. Rudd (2005 ed.)]

It’s not enough for poems to have beauty: they must have
Charm, leading their hearer’s heart wherever they wish.
[tr. Kline (2015)]

Carlyle, Thomas -- Essay (1837-12-06), “On Sir Walter Scott” The London and Westminster Review, No. 12/55, Art. 2 (1838-01)

Dave — Thu, 28 Dec 2023 23:05:40 +0000

For there is no heroic poem in the world but is at bottom a biography, the life of a man; also, it may be said, there is no life of a man, faithfully recorded, but is a heroic poem of its sort, rhymed or unrhymed.

Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Essay (1837-12-06), “On Sir Walter Scott” The London and Westminster Review, No. 12/55, Art. 2 (1838-01)
(Source)

Review of J. G. Lockhart, Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Baronet, 6 vols. (1837). Collected in Carlyle, Critical and Miscellaneous Essays (1827-1855).

Stoppard, Tom -- The Real Thing, Act 2, sc. 5 (1982)

Dave — Fri, 31 Oct 2014 13:04:49 +0000

HENRY: I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you might nudge the world a little or make a poem that children will speak for you when you are dead.

Tom Stoppard (1937–2025) Czech-English playwright and screenwriter
The Real Thing, Act 2, sc. 5 (1982)
(Source)

Mitchell, Adrian -- Poems, Preface (1964)

Dave — Thu, 05 Dec 2013 14:41:27 +0000

Most people ignore most poetry because most poetry ignores most people.

Adrian Mitchell (1932–2008) English poet, novelist, playwright
Poems, Preface (1964)

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Sr. -- Poem (1848), “A Sun-Day Hymn,” st. 5

Dave — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 14:15:20 +0000

Grant us Thy truth to make us free,
And kindling hearts that burn for Thee,
Till all Thy living altars claim
One holy light, one heav’nly flame.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–1894) American poet, essayist, scholar
Poem (1848), “A Sun-Day Hymn,” st. 5
(Source)

Best remembered today as a hymn, usually set to Virgil C. Taylor's "Louvan" (1850) or other tunes. Also known (from its first line) as "Lord of All Being [Throned Afar]". This is the concluding verse/stanza.

First published in Atlantic Monthly (1859-12) at the end of the last installment of his Professor at the Breakfast Table, where he prefaces it:

Peace to all such as may have been vexed in spirit by any utterance these pages have repeated! They will, doubtless, forget for the moment the difference in the hues of truth we look at through our human prisms, and join in singing (inwardly) this hymn to the Source of the light we all need to lead us, and the warmth which alone can make us all brothers.

It was collected, as a poem, in his The Poems of Oliver Wendell Holmes (1863).

Frost, Robert -- “The Figure a Poem Makes,” Collected Poems, Preface, “The Figure a Poem Makes” (1939)

Dave — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 09:47:33 +0000

No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise for the writer, no surprise for the reader.

Robert Frost (1874–1963) American poet
“The Figure a Poem Makes,” Collected Poems, Preface, “The Figure a Poem Makes” (1939)
(Source)