An Elegant Epigraph: Galway Kinnell on Inspiration and the Poetic Process

Galway Kinnell was born on this date (February 1) in 1927. In his honor, readers are reminded of the following comments by Kinnell concerning his sources of inspiration and the initiation of the process for writing a poem.

“I produce most and write best when I have no schedule at all, when I’m able to wander where whim carries me—both physically, through a city or countryside, and mentally, in reading, talking, scribbling, thinking, whatever. Poems don’t come to me often when solicited. More usually it’s when I turn my back on them, and become absorbed in something that is not a poem—a thing, a creature, a moment, a face, a fantasy, a memory—that an understanding happens between me and that other, an understanding that brings with it its own words. Then I don’t feel I’m making up the poem; rather my pen has to race to keep up with words that seem to be given.” — Galway Kinnell

—From an interview of Galway Kinnell with Don Bredes and David Brooks, which first appeared in Colorado State Review and is included in Galway Kinnell’s Walking Down the Stairs: Selections from Interviews (University of Michigan Press, 1978).


[“An Elegant Epigraph” serves as the recurring title for a continuing series of posts with entries containing brief but engaging, eloquent, and elegant excerpts of prose commentary introducing subjects particularly appropriate to discussion of literature, creative writing, or other relevant matters addressing complementary forms of art and music. These apposite extracts usually concern topics specifically relating to poetry or poetics. Each piece is accompanied by a recommendation that readers seek out the original publication to obtain further information and to become familiar with the complete context in which the chosen quotation appeared as well as other views presented by its author.]

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Readers are invited to visit other posts on “One Poets Note’s” regarding Galway Kinnell, which include audio or video of the poet performing: “Galway Kinnell: A Question of Life or Death” and “Galway Kinnell: The Book of Nightmares.”