Christopher Fry, British playwright, commented (Time, 3 Apr 1950) on how verse can transfer information efficiently — at least, if the receiver is ready to catch the pass:

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.

(quoted on the Writer's Almanac of 18 December 2003; see also DoggerelAndCaterwauls (14 Feb 2001), LyingVerses (15 Mar 2001), ... )

TopicPoetry - TopicLiterature - 2004-01-27

(correlates: NewtonianDogEarring, SemiAstrophysicist, StupidityAndConspiracy, ...)