One merit of poetry few persons will deny: it says more and in fewer words than prose. — Voltaire

One merit of poetry few persons will deny: it says more and in fewer words than prose.

Author: Voltaire

Insight: We live in an age of endless information, yet paradoxically, we're hungrier than ever for something that cuts through the noise. Poetry does exactly that—it gets at the heart of a feeling or truth without needing to explain itself to death. A single metaphor can do the work of a paragraph. This efficiency isn't just about saving time; it's about precision. Poetry forces you to feel something directly rather than having it laid out and analyzed for you. What's interesting is that this compression actually demands more from the reader, not less. You have to show up and participate. A poem trusts you to fill in gaps, to sit with ambiguity, to make connections. Prose holds your hand; poetry lets go and watches to see if you can walk. That's partly why a poem can stay with you for years while you forget the details of an article the next day—your brain had to work, had to become active rather than passive. In a world obsessed with saying more, Voltaire's observation points to a forgotten power: less can genuinely be more, but only if what you say is distilled enough to matter.

Source: Essay on Epick Poetry, 1727