Poetry is man's rebellion against being what he is

A poet is an unhappy being whose heart is torn by secret sufferings, but whose lips are so
strangely formed that when the sighs and the cries escape them, they sound like beautiful
music... and then people crowd about the poet and say to him: "Sing for us soon again;"
that is as much as to say, "May new sufferings torment your soul."

-Soren Kierkegaard