"No poem is easily grasped; so why should any reader expect fast results?"
- John Barton
About this Quote
This quote by John Barton is a tip that poetry is not something that can be quickly understood. Poetry is complicated and layered, and needs effort and time to be fully valued. It is not something that can be rapidly skimmed and understood. Instead, it needs cautious factor to consider and consideration in order to get a deeper understanding of the poem. This quote is a tip that readers ought to not expect to gain a full understanding of a poem in a brief quantity of time. Rather, they must take their time and allow themselves to be immersed in the poem in order to get a better understanding of its significance.
"Of the individual poems, some are more lyric and some are more descriptive or narrative. Each poem is fixed in a moment. All those moments written or read together take on the movement and architecture of a narrative"
"The heart of the matter seems to me to be the direct interaction between one's making a poem in English and a poem in the language that one understands and values. I don't see how you can do it otherwise"
"The point of an experiment is not to arrive at a predetermined end point, to prove or disprove anything, but to deliver a poem that reveals much about the process taken"
"Our moments of inspiration are not lost though we have no particular poem to show for them; for those experiences have left an indelible impression, and we are ever and anon reminded of them"
"The figure a poem makes. It begins in delight and ends in wisdom... in a clarification of life - not necessarily a great clarification, such as sects and cults are founded on, but in a momentary stay against confusion"