People are correct when they feel that the written poetry of literate societies and the oral poetry of non-literate ones differ considerably from the everyday language spoken in the community. Listeners not only accept the strange use of words, rearrangement of word order, assonance, alliteration, rhythm, rhyme, compression of thought, and so on ― they actually expect to find these things in poetry and they are disappointed when poetry does not sound poetic. But those who regard poetry as a different category of language altogether are deaf to the true achievements of the poet. Rather, the poet artfully manipulates the same raw materials of his language as are used in everyday speech; his skill is to find new possibilities in the resources already in the language. In much the same way that people living at the seashore become so accustomed to the sound of waves that they no longer hear it, most of us have become sensitive to the flood tide of words, millions of them every day, that hit our eardrums. One function of poetry is to depict the world with a fresh perception ― to make it strange ― so that we will listen to language once again. But the successful poet never departs so far into the strange world of language that none of his listeners can follow him. He still remains the communicator, the man of speech.

People are correct when they feel that the written poetry of literate societies and the oral poetry of non-literate ones differ considerably from the everyday language spoken in the community. Listeners not only accept the strange use of words, rearrangement of word order, assonance, alliteration, rhythm, rhyme, compression of thought, and so on ― they actually expect to find these things in poetry and they are disappointed when poetry does not sound poetic. But those who regard poetry as a different category of language altogether are deaf to the true achievements of the poet. Rather, the poet artfully manipulates the same raw materials of his language as are used in everyday speech; his skill is to find new possibilities in the resources already in the language. In much the same way that people living at the seashore become so accustomed to the sound of waves that they no longer hear it, most of us have become sensitive to the flood tide of words, millions of them every day, that hit our eardrums. One function of poetry is to depict the world with a fresh perception ― to make it strange ― so that we will listen to language once again. But the successful poet never departs so far into the strange world of language that none of his listeners can follow him. He still remains the communicator, the man of speech.

People are correct when they feel that the written poetry of literate societies and the oral poetry of non-literate ones differ considerably from the everyday language spoken in the community. Listeners not only accept the strange use of words, rearrangement of word order, assonance, alliteration, rhythm, rhyme, compression of thought, and so on ― they actually expect to find these things in poetry and they are disappointed when poetry does not sound poetic. But those who regard poetry as a different category of language altogether are deaf to the true achievements of the poet. Rather, the poet artfully manipulates the same raw materials of his language as are used in everyday speech; his skill is to find new possibilities in the resources already in the language. In much the same way that people living at the seashore become so accustomed to the sound of waves that they no longer hear it, most of us have become sensitive to the flood tide of words, millions of them every day, that hit our eardrums. One function of poetry is to depict the world with a fresh perception ― to make it strange ― so that we will listen to language once again. But the successful poet never departs so far into the strange world of language that none of his listeners can follow him. He still remains the communicator, the man of speech.

People are correct when they feel that the written poetry of literate societies and the oral poetry of non-literate ones differ considerably from the everyday language spoken in the community. Listeners not only accept the strange use of words, rearrangement of word order, assonance, alliteration, rhythm, rhyme, compression of thought, and so on ― they actually expect to find these things in poetry and they are disappointed when poetry does not sound poetic. But those who regard poetry as a different category of language altogether are deaf to the true achievements of the poet. Rather, the poet artfully manipulates the same raw materials of his language as are used in everyday speech; his skill is to find new possibilities in the resources already in the language. In much the same way that people living at the seashore become so accustomed to the sound of waves that they no longer hear it, most of us have become sensitive to the flood tide of words, millions of them every day, that hit our eardrums. One function of poetry is to depict the world with a fresh perception ― to make it strange ― so that we will listen to language once again. But the successful poet never departs so far into the strange world of language that none of his listeners can follow him. He still remains the communicator, the man of speech.

People are correct when they feel that the written poetry of literate societies and the oral poetry of non-literate ones differ considerably from the everyday language spoken in the community. Listeners not only accept the strange use of words, rearrangement of word order, assonance, alliteration, rhythm, rhyme, compression of thought, and so on ― they actually expect to find these things in poetry and they are disappointed when poetry does not sound poetic. But those who regard poetry as a different category of language altogether are deaf to the true achievements of the poet. Rather, the poet artfully manipulates the same raw materials of his language as are used in everyday speech; his skill is to find new possibilities in the resources already in the language. In much the same way that people living at the seashore become so accustomed to the sound of waves that they no longer hear it, most of us have become sensitive to the flood tide of words, millions of them every day, that hit our eardrums. One function of poetry is to depict the world with a fresh perception ― to make it strange ― so that we will listen to language once again. But the successful poet never departs so far into the strange world of language that none of his listeners can follow him. He still remains the communicator, the man of speech.