“The poet exposes himself to the risk. All that has been said about poetry, all that he has learned about poetry, is only a partial assurance.”
Tip: press → for another quote, C to copy, S to share.
Everything is discursive opinion instead of direct experience.
If we ask a vague question, such as, 'What is poetry?' we expect a vague answer, such as, 'Poetry is the music of words, ' or 'Poetry is the linguistic correction of disorder.'
Is it not careless to become too local when there are four hundred billion stars in our galaxy alone.
Besides the actual reading in class of many poems, I would suggest you do two things: first, while teaching everything you can and keeping free of it, teach that poetry is a mode of discourse that differs from logical exposition.