Paul Muldoon

“Poetry is a kind of trick, a sleight of hand.”

“All art is a form of translation.”

“A translation is no translation... unless it will give you the music of a poem along with the words of it.”

“The point of a rhyme is not to be something that's just thrown in.”

“Why should a poem not be as structured as a concerto?”

“My own position is that I'm a liberal, and I'm a liberal because I'm a conservative.”

“I have a great fondness for the Irish language.”

“A poem is a multi-faceted creature, a verbal device that works on many levels.”

“The best poetry is always a little bit ahead of the reader.”

“Humor is a response to despair.”

“Every poem is a postcard from the volcano.”

“I came to poetry through the lyric.”

“I think of the poem as a structure of feeling.”

“One writes out of a need to discover what one is thinking.”

“You have to be true to the language.”

“A sonnet is a moment's monument.”

“My poems are hymns of praise to the glory of life.”