an excerpt from Earle Birney's Introduction to 'Twentieth Century Canadian Poetry'

'A poem, like any other work of art, is created to be enjoyed, and the ability to enjoy it is to some extent an acquired one. We are not born with a mature appreciation of Beethoven or Shakespeare; and we can fail even to acquire it if we limit our listening to the tunes of Tin Pan Allen and our reading to nursery jingles. And yet, if we recall the joys we once got from Hickory-Dickory-Dock, we have a guide to the adult pleasure of poetry-reading. When we were young we did not need to be urged to let our imaginations work; we saw the cow jump over the moon, and we laughed, with the little dog, seeing it happen; we tasted the sounds of Humpty-Dumpty and we beat our hands tothe fun of its rhythm. Much adult poetry is still inviting us to do the same, to take a holiday from our grown up world of sober readon, making-a-living, worry, routine, mechanized entertainment and spectator-sports, and to let the colour and thythm and cadence of words, those most magical of all human inventions, unloose our imaginations to run where they will.'