“In fact a lot of them I think are absolute baloney. Those Charles Olsens and people like that. At first I was interested in seeing what they were up to, what they were doing, why they were doing it. They never moved me in the way that one is moved by true poetry.”
Author details
Related authors
Other Norman MacCaig Quotes
However, I learned something. I thought that if the young person, the student, has poetry in him or her, to offer them help is like offering a propeller to a bird.
Norman MacCaig 
58% of people like this quote
I used to fish the Border rivers, but nowadays you have to queue up for a shot and I can't stand that.
Norman MacCaig
57% of people like this quote
It's like breathing in and out to me. It's like having a conversation with someone who isn't there. Because it has to be addressed to somebody - not a particular person, or very rarely.
Norman MacCaig
57% of people like this quote
I used to have a great love for Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy, the big boys of the last century.
Norman MacCaig
57% of people like this quote
When I was asked to be Writer in Residence at Edinburgh I thought, you can't teach poetry. This is ridiculous.
Norman MacCaig
56% of people like this quote