"The poet presents his thoughts festively, on the carriage of rhythm: usually because they could not walk."
-Nietzsche, Human, All-Too-Human, sec. 189
I used to think this passage was derogatory of poets, with the idea being that their thoughts were too feeble to withstand presentation in straightforward prose.
But as I read the passage again just now, it occurred to me that Nietzsche's idea might be the opposite: the poet's ideas are so profound that prose is too feeble a mode of presentation to express them.
I still prefer the first reading.
