Thesis: Many people don't "get" poetry, especially the kind that plays with subtle slippages of meaning, because their own use of language is so messy that they don't see the precision and multivalence of poetry.
But there's also the ability to see experience distilled into lyric form, which, for example, came to me very late in the advanced study of literature.
It depends on how the term "get" is being used here. I don't disagree that many people miss or dislike the "subtle slippages of meaning, etc..." but I tend to think it's not from lack of understanding so much as out of laziness. I don't think "many people" like to spend enough time with the poem or idea to truly appreciate the layers and the intricacies of the language used, either because they don't care, or they think it's too difficult. I admit that I sometimes get lazy while I read poems and don't spend enough time trying to make sense of them myself, which is really bad for a poet...
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But there's also the ability to see experience distilled into lyric form, which, for example, came to me very late in the advanced study of literature.
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