John Anthony Ciardi (1916–86) was an American poet, translator, and etymologist. While primarily known as a poet, he also translated Dante’s Divine Comedy, wrote several volumes of children’s poetry, pursued etymology, contributed to the Saturday Review as a columnist and long-time poetry editor, and directed the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference in Vermont. In 1959, Ciardi published a book on how to read, write, and teach poetry, How Does a Poem Mean?, which has proven to be among the most-used books of its kind. At the peak of his popularity in the early 1960s, Ciardi also had a network television program on CBS, Accent. Ciardi’s impact on poetry is perhaps best measured through the younger poets whom he influenced as a teacher and as editor of the Saturday Review.
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Every parent is at some time the father of the unreturned prodigal, with nothing to do but keep his house open to hope.
—John Ciardi
Topics: Hope
You don’t have to suffer to be a poet. Adolescence is enough suffering for anyone.
—John Ciardi
Topics: Suffering, Enthusiasm, Poetry
Modern art is what happens when painters stop looking at girls and persuade themselves that they have a better idea.
—John Ciardi
Topics: Artists, Art
Aristocracy: What is left over from rich ancestors after the money is gone.
—John Ciardi
Topics: Class
A university is what a college becomes when the faculty loses interest in students.
—John Ciardi
Topics: Education, Universities
Love is the word used to label the sexual excitement of the young, the habituation of the middle-aged, and the mutual dependence of the old.
—John Ciardi
Topics: Love
A neighborhood is a residential area that is changing for the worse.
—John Ciardi
Topics: Cities
Honesty: The ability to resist small temptations.
—John Ciardi
Topics: Honesty
Patience is the art of caring slowly.
—John Ciardi
Topics: Patience
Gentility is what is left over from rich ancestors after the money is gone.
—John Ciardi
Topics: Manners
Intelligence recognizes what has happened. Genius recognizes what will happen.
—John Ciardi
Topics: Intelligence
The Constitution gives every American the inalienable right to make a damn fool of himself.
—John Ciardi
A good question is never answered. It is not a bolt to be tightened into place but a seed to be planted and to bear more seed toward the hope of greening the landscape of idea.
—John Ciardi
Topics: Change
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