Poetry News

The 50 Most Quoted Lines of Poetry

Originally Published: January 19, 2012

This Guardian article tipped us to this list at Inky Fool that lists the 50 most quoted lines of poetry, according to Google.

Pope rocks the top of the list, with William Ernest Hemley's "I am the master of my fate" taking second, thanks to Invictus.

What does this say? Not much. And they had rules, which you'll see when you make the jump. The Guardian post had this to say:

It's an example of poetry becoming aphorism: how many people today would be able to name the poem it came from ("An Essay on Criticism")? More at least than would be able to source the second most quoted line, "I am the master of my fate", from "Invictus", by the all-but-forgotten Victorian poet William Ernest Henley.