Yes, that was a Muir quote.

This latest installment of “blow my mind daily” seems to be a pretty strong continuation of the free verse section of the book. The change to a less formal diction to me was a great shift in literature in general, not just in poetry. If I would have had to start out writing my poetry in Terza Rima and using the diction of a Phoenician philosopher, I would have never wrote a poem. I also thoroughly enjoyed the part about Keats saying that the poet themselves must be wholly empty so that they may experience what is around them and allow empathy to fill them. I think this is a strong indication of his respect to diction and tone, because empathy is going to affect one’s tone so that they may curve their words to what the poet wants the audience to feel. As Oliver said, “If a poem sounds a certain way, it’s because the poet wanted it to sound that way.” I enjoyed the thought of inverting a line and after some consideration I do plan on doing that and being successful with it at least once in my life, I feel as though that is a good goal for someone who enjoys writing poetry as I do. This section gives great insight to how a poet should construct not only the form of the poem but the word usage and how even the choice of word placement and how the words would flow together hold a very strong impact on the work as a whole. When you tug on one thing in nature, you find that it is connected to everything.