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About this quote

What does it mean?
Language and reality seek harmony and connection naturally.
In plain terms
Words and things naturally try to link and rhyme together.
What can you take from it?
Seek connections in language and life.

Where it applies

  • writing
  • reading
  • observation

Putting it to work

  • notice patterns
  • seek rhymes
  • read deeply

Questions to consider

  • What words connect to you?
  • What things fit together?

Another view

Not all language or things connect meaningfully.

More from Paul Muldoon

  1. The point of poetry is to be acutely discomforting, to prod and provoke, to poke us in the eye, to punch us in the nose, to knock us off our feet, to take our …

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  2. If the poem has no obvious destination, there's a chance that we'll be all setting off on an interesting ride.

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  3. Form is a straitjacket in the way that a straitjacket was a straitjacket for Houdini.

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