I mean the average lettered man, the average man who does care a little
for books and enjoys reading, and knows the classics by name
and the popular writers by having read them. I am convinced
that not one man in ten who reads, reads poetry--at any rate, knowingly.
I am convinced, further, that not one man in ten who goes so far as
knowingly to *buy* poetry ever reads it. You will find everywhere
men who read very widely in prose, but who will say quite callously,
"No, I never read poetry." If the sales of modern poetry,
distinctly labelled as such, were to cease entirely to-morrow
not a publisher would fail; scarcely a publisher would be affected;
and not a poet would die--for I do not believe that a single modern
English poet is living to-day on the current proceeds of his verse.
For a country which possesses the greatest poetical literature
in the world this condition of affairs is at least odd.
What makes it odder is that, occasionally, very occasionally,
the average lettered man will have a fit of idolatry for a fine poet,
buying his books in tens of thousands, and bestowing upon him
immense riches. As with Tennyson. And what makes it odder still
is that, after all, the average lettered man does not truly dislike poetry;
he only dislikes it when it takes a certain form. He will read poetry
and enjoy it, provided he is not aware that it is poetry.
Poetry can exist authentically either in prose or in verse.
Give him poetry concealed in prose and there is a chance that,
taken off his guard, he will appreciate it. But show him a page of verse,
and he will be ready to send for a policeman. The reason of this is that,
though poetry may come to pass either in prose or in verse,
it does actually happen far more frequently in verse than in prose;
nearly all the very greatest poetry is in verse; verse is identified
with the very greatest poetry, and the very greatest poetry can only be
understood and savoured by people who have put themselves through a