[1] There are more poets than non-poets in the world, as is proved by the popular origin of … legends.
G.K. Chesterton (Wikipedia)
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[2] It is the supreme proof of a man being prosaic that he always insists on poetry being poetical.
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[3] Imaginative does not mean imaginary.
G.K. Chesterton
The Everlasting Man (1925)
Which do you like best? Why?
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That’s Chesterton for you: he can write a sentence of 20 words, and you have to sit and ponder it for a long time to tease out his meaning. Of course the context would help … but he is such a thought-provoking writer in any case. I like the second one. I *think* he means that it’s a boring, unimaginative person who would assume that poetry is only rhyming lines and verses, not a way of seeing the world. (?)
Good point about it being a way of seeing the world. It sounds to me like he’s saying it’s only the unimaginative (prosaic) people who insist it has to sound a certain way or it’s not poetry.