"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.
"With the question of the effect of a poem, the topic of investigation shifts from that of textual autonomy to textual reception - to the issue of what we actually look for or find in reading a poem"
"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"
"A revolutionary poem will not tell you who or when to kill, what and when to burn, or even how to theorize. It reminds you... where and when and how you are living and might live, it is a wick of desire"
