sample-fed

Updated: May 9, 2025

He was not a man, but a sample-fed, word-emitting machine. These people, emotionally speaking, are senile. They should not try to read poetry. But most of us even those who are outwardly commonplace, practical, unenthusiastic, "solid," and not "sensitive" lose our youthful keenness with regret. And that is why poetry, except for the hopelessly sodden, is a tonic worthy of a great price.

Henry Seidel Canby - Definitions: Essays in Contemporary Criticism