Great damage has been done by a false perception of poetry as something elitist, inaccessible, academic, and esoteric. Poetry is for everyone, for the so-called common man, not just the scholar. Poetry is a magnifying glass through which we view the grass beneath our feet, as well as a telescope through which we view the stars above our heads. Poetry sharpens the vision so we can penetrate to the wonder of the real, which we are often blind to.
As literature professor John Senior is cited in the book “John Senior and the Restoration of Realism” by Father Francis Bethel:
