My theory is that poems are written because of a state of emotional irritation. It may be present for some time before the poet is conscious of what is tormenting him. The emotional irritation springs, probably, from subconscious combinations of partly forgotten thoughts and feelings. Coming together, like electrical currents in a thunder storm, they produce a poem.... the poem is written to free the poet from an emotional burden.


Mirror of the Heart: Poems of Sara Teasdale (ed. MacMillan Publishing Company, 1984)

Sara Teasdale Quotes

My theory is that poems are written because of a state of emotional irritation. It may be present for some time before the poet is conscious of what...

My theory is that poems are written because of a state of emotional irritation. It may be present for some time before the poet is conscious of what...

My theory is that poems are written because of a state of emotional irritation. It may be present for some time before the poet is conscious of what...

My theory is that poems are written because of a state of emotional irritation. It may be present for some time before the poet is conscious of what...