Ever notice??

[GtrZan]

I just finished a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson, something like "Genius is its own end, ..." and it got me thinking about an interesting correlation between poetry and common language.

I always struggle a bit with Poets both modern and ancient and it just dawned on me why. Those types of quotes don't generally contain a lot of popular vernacular that I usually rely on to get started with a puzzle (i.e. that, the, you, "a" coupled with an "and" somewhere, etc...) so my usual easy tricks don't work which forces me to look for deeper connections that can sometimes takes quite awhile to form (for me).

The artistry of Poetry is not usually "common" at a substantive or even a phonetic level! Go figure, lol.

Though probably obvious to whole bunch of people on this site, it just somehow hit me as an ephiphany of sorts

[imported_Lurker]

Pope the Dope & Benny the Frank

Oh yes, we've noticed. That's why it's so helpful to have the authors listed. I switch mental gears to match the century or artistic style of the aphorist.

It's also why Proverbs and Unattributed quotes are so difficult, regardless of length.

[GtrZan]

... I switch mental gears to match the century or artistic style of the aphorist.

well said!