"Poetry has the virtue of being able to say twice as much as prose in half the time, and the drawback, if you do not give it your full attention, of seeming to say half as much in twice the time"
- Christopher Fry
About this Quote
This quote by Christopher Fry talks to the power of verse and also its capacity to convey a large amount of significance in a brief quantity of time. He suggests that verse has the benefit of being able to say twice as long as prose in half the time, but if one does not provide it their full focus, it can appear to say half as much in twice the time. This implies that verse is an effective tool for interaction, but it requires the visitor to be alert and also engaged in order to fully value its significance. It additionally suggests that poetry can be a much more efficient method of communicating a message than prose, as it can communicate a good deal of info in a short quantity of time. Eventually, this quote talks with the power of verse and its ability to share a lot of definition in a short amount of time, however it additionally stresses the importance of providing it one's complete attention in order to fully value its definition.
"I think Ginsberg has done more harm to the craft that I honor and live by than anybody else by reducing it to a kind of mean that enables the most dubious practitioners to claim they are poets because they think, If the kind of thing Ginsberg does is poetry, I can do that"
"Nothing truly convincing - which would possess thoroughness, vigor, and skill - has been written against the ancients as yet; especially not against their poetry"
"The dance can reveal everything mysterious that is hidden in music, and it has the additional merit of being human and palpable. Dancing is poetry with arms and legs"
"A book is sent out into the world, and there is no way of fully anticipating the responses it will elicit. Consider the responses called forth by the Bible, Homer, Shakespeare - let alone contemporary poetry or a modern novel"