"The relation between a poet and audience is really insignificant. What matters is the poet is hearing something that he is broadcasting. And whether there is anybody with a receiver isn't the reason he does it. He hopes there is somebody receiving it"
About this Quote
Art gets treated like a group project, but Davison frames it as a kind of private signal fire. The poet isn’t performing a transaction with an “audience” so much as transmitting something he can’t not transmit. That word choice - broadcasting, receiver - is slyly modern: it turns inspiration into circuitry, not confession. The poet “is hearing something” first, almost like an intercepted frequency. Creation becomes less self-expression than self-translation: a person trying to render a message that arrived in them before it belonged to them.
The provocation sits in “really insignificant.” Davison isn’t dismissing listeners; he’s rejecting the tyranny of them. In a culture that grades art by engagement metrics, he insists the motive can’t be applause without the work collapsing into content. The poet’s job is fidelity to the signal, not responsiveness to the crowd. That’s an actor’s insight, too: the best performances don’t chase the room; they hold the channel steady and let the room catch up.
Still, the last line softens the apparent austerity. “He hopes there is somebody receiving it” admits the human ache underneath the professionalism. The poet doesn’t need an audience to justify the act, but he does want communion - not as validation, as recognition. It’s a useful distinction: art as necessity first, outreach second. The subtext is a defense mechanism and a credo, protecting the maker from indifference while keeping the door open to connection.
The provocation sits in “really insignificant.” Davison isn’t dismissing listeners; he’s rejecting the tyranny of them. In a culture that grades art by engagement metrics, he insists the motive can’t be applause without the work collapsing into content. The poet’s job is fidelity to the signal, not responsiveness to the crowd. That’s an actor’s insight, too: the best performances don’t chase the room; they hold the channel steady and let the room catch up.
Still, the last line softens the apparent austerity. “He hopes there is somebody receiving it” admits the human ache underneath the professionalism. The poet doesn’t need an audience to justify the act, but he does want communion - not as validation, as recognition. It’s a useful distinction: art as necessity first, outreach second. The subtext is a defense mechanism and a credo, protecting the maker from indifference while keeping the door open to connection.
Quote Details
| Topic | Poetry |
|---|
More Quotes by Peter
Add to List
