James Laughlin Quotes

Powerful James Laughlin for Daily Growth

About James Laughlin

James Laughlin (1914-2017) was an American publisher, poet, and literary critic who played a significant role in shaping the post-World War II literary landscape in the United States. Born on October 3, 1914, in New York City to prominent arts patrons, Laughlin developed an early appreciation for literature and art. In 1940, at the age of 26, he founded New Directions Publishing, which would become a leading publisher of modernist and avant-garde authors such as Hart Crane, Ezra Pound, Wallace Stevens, and Tennessee Williams. Laughlin's vision for the publishing house was to bridge the gap between academic and popular literature, and to promote a diverse range of literary voices. One of his most significant contributions came in 1944 when he published "Howl" by Allen Ginsberg, a book that became emblematic of the Beat Generation. Despite facing censorship challenges, Laughlin's unwavering support for the work helped it gain widespread recognition. Laughlin's own poetry was also influential, with his first collection, "Poems 1939-1948," published in 1949. His work often explored themes of love, loss, and the human condition, drawing from his personal experiences and relationships. Throughout his life, Laughlin received numerous awards for his contributions to literature, including the National Book Award and the National Medal of Arts. He passed away on March 28, 2017, leaving behind a lasting legacy as a champion of innovative literature and a mentor to countless authors. His quotes reflect his deep love for literature and his belief in its power to connect and transform individuals: "To me, literature is the means by which we can know ourselves and communicate with others," and "The greatest pleasure of writing is not what it's about, but who does it."

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"Poetry is the journal of a nation."

James Laughlin's quote emphasizes that poetry serves as a reflection and record of a nation's culture, history, emotions, and ideas. Poetry, much like a personal journal, captures the spirit and sentiments of a people in a way that is powerful, nuanced, and enduring. It offers insight into the collective consciousness, values, struggles, and triumphs of a society, thus making it an essential tool for understanding a nation's identity and evolution over time.

"The function of poetry is to sustain and fortify the spirit."

This quote suggests that poetry serves a vital role in nourishing and strengthening our spiritual or emotional well-being. By engaging with thoughtful, evocative language, poetry can inspire hope, provoke reflection, and provide comfort during challenging times. In essence, it provides solace for the soul and encourages us to persist through life's trials and tribulations.

"The poet's duty is to be attentive, to be sensitive, and above all to be alert, to be awake."

This quote by James Laughlin emphasizes that a poet should possess heightened awareness and sensitivity in their creative pursuit. Being "attentive" implies observing the world carefully, capturing its subtleties and nuances. "Sensitive" suggests having deep emotional responses to these observations and accurately expressing them through poetry. "Alert" and "awake" underscore a constant readiness to perceive and respond to the experiences of life, ensuring that the poet's work remains relevant, thought-provoking, and authentic.

"We do not make our own poetry, we discover it."

James Laughlin's quote signifies that poetry, like many forms of creative expression, is not something humans fabricate out of thin air but rather a discovery process. It implies that the poet unearths or uncovers existing emotions, ideas, and themes within themselves, allowing them to manifest in their work. The beauty and power of poetry come from this deep, authentic connection between the writer and their creation.

"A poem is a living thing, and like any living thing, it grows and changes as it lives."

This quote emphasizes that a poem, much like any other living entity, has the ability to evolve over time. It suggests that the meaning or impact of a poem can change as it is read, interpreted, and experienced by different individuals throughout its lifetime. Moreover, this evolution may occur due to the poet's own growth and development, or through the influence of external factors such as cultural shifts or personal insights gained by readers. Essentially, the quote stresses that poems are dynamic and adaptable, capable of adapting to their environment and continuously revealing new aspects of themselves.

Of course a poem is a two-way street. No poem is any good if it doesn't suggest to the reader things from his own mind and recollection that he will read into it, and will add to what the poet has suggested. But I do think poetry readings are very important.

- James Laughlin

Own, Very, Reader, Two-Way Street

I think there's no excuse for the American poetry reader not knowing a good deal about what is going on in the rest of the world.

- James Laughlin

Rest, Think, Deal, No Excuse

Every now and then, I strike something that just goes click, you know, in my head. As Gertrude Stein used to say, it rings the bell, and I feel, this is great.

- James Laughlin

Feel, Used, Stein, Bell

I do read everything that we publish. We usually have to have two or three votes for a book before we take it on. So in that sense I suppose it is an orchestra.

- James Laughlin

Book, Before, Read, Orchestra

We see them when they come to New York. They stay at my wife's apartment. We have quite a correspondence with them at all times. They play a very important role, the authors in the firm, because so much of the material we publish is suggested by them.

- James Laughlin

Play, Role, Very, Correspondence

There are numerous cases of that, where one of our writers discovers another writer whom he likes, and we then take that book on. So it's a very close relationship. We can do that because we're so small.

- James Laughlin

Small, Very, Numerous, Close Relationship

I think we will always have the impulse towards visual poetry with us, and I wouldn't agree with Bly that it's a bad thing. It depends on the ability of the individual poet to do it well, and to make a shape which is interesting enough to hold your attention.

- James Laughlin

Bad, I Think, Your, Impulse

I think most people read and re-read the things that they have liked. That's certainly true in my case. I re-read Pound a great deal, I re-read Williams, I re-read Thomas, I re-read the people whom I cam to love when I was at what you might call a formative stage.

- James Laughlin

Love, Deal, I Think, Cam

I think there is a great difference, in that when the poet is reading you get the whole personality of the person, especially if he's a good reader. Whereas a person just sitting gets what he puts into it.

- James Laughlin

Think, I Think, Reader, Whereas

Then, of course, there are those sad occasions when a poet or a writer has not grown, and one has to let them go because they're just not making headway. But we have a very clear personal relationship with the authors.

- James Laughlin

Go, Making, Very, Authors

We don't attempt to have any theme for a number of the anthology, or to have any particular sequence. We just put in things that we like, and then we try to alternate the prose and the poetry.

- James Laughlin

Like, Prose, Alternate, Anthology

I think one ages and one dates. I tend to have a good deal of difficulty in liking some of the new poets.

- James Laughlin

Think, New, Some, Dates

I try to write in plain brown blocks of American speech but occasionally set in an ancient word or a strange word just to startle the reader a little bit and to break up the monotony of the plain American cadence.

- James Laughlin

Break, Set, Blocks, Occasionally

It's all well and good to say that Germans were all responsible for the concentration camps, but I don't think they were. I think that was the work of a small group of fiends.

- James Laughlin

Small, Think, I Think, Camps

Concrete poets continue to turn out beautiful things, but to me they're more visual than oral, and they almost really belong on the wall rather than in a book. I haven't the least idea of where poetry is going.

- James Laughlin

Belong, Concrete, Almost, Oral

I think that is where poetry reading becomes such an individual thing. I mean I have friend who like poets who just don't say anything to me at all, I mean they seem to me rather ordinary and pedestrian.

- James Laughlin

Anything, I Think, Rather, Poets

I think that concrete poetry seems to have, as far as I can see, come to a kind of a dead end. It doesn't seem to be going any further than it went in its high period of about five or six years ago.

- James Laughlin

Concrete, I Think, About, Further

With me it's the whole thing, it's the conceit, the idea, what the poem is saying. And it goes on just as long as is necessary to say what needs to be said.

- James Laughlin

Idea, Needs, Necessary, Conceit

The German experience, as you can see, did move me very much. Seeing that terrible destruction and seeing the miserable state of the people, how they had been beaten down by the war through no fault of their own probably.

- James Laughlin

Through, Very, German, Destruction

We do very little re-writing in the office. We often take on people who show great promise and who we hope will develop into somebody important and someone good.

- James Laughlin

Will, Show, Very, Promise

Often something comes in from which you can see that the person is good, the book may not be perfect as it is, and the person doesn't want to do a re-write. That's something we do almost nothing of.

- James Laughlin

Perfect, May, Which, Almost Nothing

If you're searching for quotes on a different topic, feel free to browse our Topics page or explore a diverse collection of quotes from various Authors to find inspiration.