I'm a fierce afficionado of Jane -- who was, in my opinion, a rare and sublime spirit -- but have only just found this quote today, and found it almost overwhelming in its simplicity:
"The poet’s job is to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, in such a beautiful way that people cannot live without it; to put into words those feelings we all have that are so deep, so important and yet so difficult to name. The poet’s job is to find a name for everything; to be a fearless finder of the names of things; to be an advocate for the beauty of language, the subtleties of language. I think it’s very serious stuff, art; it’s not just decoration. The other job the poet has is to console in the face of the inevitable disintegration of loss and death, all of the tough things we have to face as humans. We have the consolation of beauty, of one soul extending to another soul and saying, 'I’ve been there too.'"
[This message has been edited by Jennifer Reeser (edited July 19, 2004).]
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