--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If he's a poet, why's he in jail?\"…" description: "\"“If he's a poet, why's he in jail?\" demanded a suspicious voice. Madam Chairwoman shrugged velvet shoulders. \"Perhaps he writes free verse,\" she sugges..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/65d/margery-sharp-49709_abolition_if-he-s-a-poet-why-s-he-in-jail-demanded_948773.jpg" --- # If he's a poet, why's he in jail?" demanded a suspicious… ![“If he's a poet, why's he in jail?" demanded a suspicious voice. Madam Chairwoman shrugged velvet shoulders. "Perhaps he writes free verse," she suggested cunningly. A stir of approval answered her. Mice are all for people being free, so that they too can be freed form their eternal task of…” quote by Margery Sharp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/65d/margery-sharp-49709_abolition_if-he-s-a-poet-why-s-he-in-jail-demanded_948773.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/65d/margery-sharp-49709_abolition_if-he-s-a-poet-why-s-he-in-jail-demanded_948773.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/65d/margery-sharp-49709_abolition_if-he-s-a-poet-why-s-he-in-jail-demanded_948773.jpg) > ““If he's a poet, why's he in jail?" demanded a suspicious voice. Madam Chairwoman shrugged velvet shoulders. "Perhaps he writes free verse," she suggested cunningly. A stir of approval answered her. Mice are all for people being free, so that they too can be freed form their eternal task of cheering prisoners--so that they can stay snug at home, nibbling the family cheese, instead of sleeping out in damp straw on a diet of stale bread.”” [Margery Sharp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margery-sharp/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The passage satuses the absurdity of imprisoning creativity and the desire for freedom, using satire to critique societal constraints on expression. **In simple terms:** Freedom of expression is mocked when it is punished. Key Takeaway Question authority that limits creative voices. Themes satire freedom creativity authority conformity Mood wry critical thoughtful Type literary satirical commentary When to use this quote - prison reform debates - artistic censorship discussions - education on free speech - personal expression encouragement Key Concepts social critique literary satire Questions to Reflect On - How does humor reveal hidden injustices? - What responsibilities do creators have in oppressive societies? A Different Perspective Satire may oversimplify complex social issues. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Abolition](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abolition/) [Free verse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/free-verse/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Prison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prison/) ## Related quotes > [“It's both a tremendous obligation and honor to undertake the unfulfilled work of the best of our abolitionist precursors--those who did not only want…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dylan-rodriguez/it-s-both-a-tremendous-obligation-and-honor-to-undertake-the/) Dylan Rodriguez > [“The majority of people who are in prison are there because society has failed them.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-y-davis/the-majority-of-people-who-are-in-prison-are-there-because-society/) [Angela Y. Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-y-davis/) > [“Prison abolition is more than a politic, it’s a daily practice.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shira-hassan/prison-abolition-is-more-than-a-politic-it-s-a-daily-practice/) Shira Hassan > [“In the poetry of arrival, the garage door is free verse; the front door can be anything from a rhyming couplet to a sonnet.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/akiko-busch/in-the-poetry-of-arrival-the-garage-door-is-free-verse-the-front-door/) Akiko Busch > [“Sanity is a sonnet with a strict meter and rhyme scheme-and my mind is free verse.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/holly-schindler/sanity-is-a-sonnet-with-a-strict-meter-and-rhyme-scheme-and-my-mind/) [Holly Schindler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/holly-schindler/) > [“If there has been one overriding change in poetic practice, it is that under the influence of free verse the poets have made a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-langford/if-there-has-been-one-overriding-change-in-poetic-practice-it-is-that/) Martin Langford > [“Dead Butterfly By Ellen Bass For months my daughter carried a dead monarch in a quart mason jar. To and from school in her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-bass/dead-butterfly-by-ellen-bass-for-months-my-daughter-carried-a-dead/) [Ellen Bass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-bass/) > [“vers libre," (free verse) or nine-tenths of it, is not a new metre any more than sleeping in a ditch is a new school…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-k-chesterton/vers-libre-free-verse-or-nine-tenths-of-it-is-not-a-new-metre-any/) [G.K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-k-chesterton/) > [“If You Knew What if you knew you'd be the last to touch someone? If you were taking tickets, for example, at the theater,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-bass/if-you-knew-what-if-you-knew-you-d-be-the-last-to-touch-someone-if/) [Ellen Bass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-bass/) > [“A midst deceit I found the truth; there in the rough I found a diamond. And from the moment we met, I think of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donato-dicristino/a-midst-deceit-i-found-the-truth-there-in-the-rough-i-found-a-diamond/) Donato DiCristino > [Free verse is chained in sentence-to-sentence links and breaks free in line breaks.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shirley-geok-lin-lim/free-verse-is-chained-in-sentence-to-sentence-links-and-breaks-free/) [Shirley Geok-lin Lim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shirley-geok-lin-lim/) > [Teenagers are free verse walking around on two legs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothy-allison/teenagers-are-free-verse-walking-around-on-two-legs/) [Dorothy Allison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothy-allison/) > [“I am a poet writing frenetic free verse I am pretentious”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-h-hanson/i-am-a-poet-writing-frenetic-free-verse-i-am-pretentious/) Michael H. Hanson > [Among those today who believe that modern poetry must do without rhyme or metre, there is an assumption that the alternative to free verse…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-fenton/among-those-today-who-believe-that-modern-poetry-must-do-without/) [James Fenton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-fenton/) > [“Leaches Ten Tall by Stewart Stafford Don't play this game with me, Predatory whelk of tide pools, Taint me as Rigoletto to a bawd,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stewart-stafford/leaches-ten-tall-by-stewart-stafford-don-t-play-this-game-with-me/) [Stewart Stafford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stewart-stafford/) ## More by Margery Sharp > [But truth, that dangerous commodity, has a way of sticking.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margery-sharp/but-truth-that-dangerous-commodity-has-a-way-of-sticking/) [Margery Sharp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margery-sharp/) > [It is the gift of all poets to find the commonplace astonishing, and the astonishing quite natural.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margery-sharp/it-is-the-gift-of-all-poets-to-find-the-commonplace-astonishing-and/) [Margery Sharp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margery-sharp/) > [There is nothing so intractable as a calendar.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margery-sharp/there-is-nothing-so-intractable-as-a-calendar/) [Margery Sharp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margery-sharp/) > [There is nothing more tedious than a constant round of gaiety.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margery-sharp/there-is-nothing-more-tedious-than-a-constant-round-of-gaiety/) [Margery Sharp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margery-sharp/) > [Youth is always a little offended to find itself not preferred: it cannot help feeling that when it admits the old to its society,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margery-sharp/youth-is-always-a-little-offended-to-find-itself-not-preferred-it/) [Margery Sharp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margery-sharp/) > [“If you had a smattering of education you would realize that perfection of form can give validity to any sentiment, however preposterous.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margery-sharp/if-you-had-a-smattering-of-education-you-would-realize-that/) [Margery Sharp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margery-sharp/) [Explore all 7 Margery Sharp quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margery-sharp/) ## More Abolition quotes > [Unpleasant questions are being raised about Mother's Day. Is this day necessary? . . . Isn't it bad public policy? . . . No…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/russell-baker/unpleasant-questions-are-being-raised-about-mother-s-day-is-this-day/) [Russell Baker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/russell-baker/) > [Anarchism is a definite intellectual current in the life of our times, whose adherents advocate the abolition of economic monopolies and of all political…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rudolf-rocker/anarchism-is-a-definite-intellectual-current-in-the-life-of-our-times/) [Rudolf Rocker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rudolf-rocker/) > [Anarchism as a political philosophy seeks to dissolve all forms of authority and power, and if possible, wishes their complete abolition.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-marshall/anarchism-as-a-political-philosophy-seeks-to-dissolve-all-forms-of/) [Peter Marshall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-marshall/) > [“I am aware that many object to the severity of my language; but is there not cause for severity? I will be as harsh…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-lloyd-garrison/i-am-aware-that-many-object-to-the-severity-of-my-language-but-is/) [William Lloyd Garrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-lloyd-garrison/) > [It seems like cloud cuckoo land. If anyone is suggesting that I would go to Parliament and suggest the abolition of the Pound Sterling…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-thatcher/it-seems-like-cloud-cuckoo-land-if-anyone-is-suggesting-that-i-would/) [Margaret Thatcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-thatcher/) > [We invite people working for peace to span generations and national boundaries, and gather together to communicate. Let us firmly join hands and foster…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iccho-itoh/we-invite-people-working-for-peace-to-span-generations-and-national/) [Iccho Itoh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iccho-itoh/) > [Insofar as we may at all claim that slavery has been abolished today, we owe its abolition to the practical consequences of science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/insofar-as-we-may-at-all-claim-that-slavery-has-been-abolished-today/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [ You have not been mistaken in supposing my views and feeling to be in favor of the abolition of war. Of my dispos\[i\]tion to… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/you-have-not-been-mistaken-in-supposing-my-views-and-feeling-to-be-in/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [On this International Day for the Abolition of Slavery let us reaffirm the inherent dignity of all men, women and children. And let us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ban-ki-moon/on-this-international-day-for-the-abolition-of-slavery-let-us/) [Ban Ki-moon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ban-ki-moon/) > [Capitalism as a social order and as a creed is the expression of the belief in economic progress as leading toward the freedom and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-drucker/capitalism-as-a-social-order-and-as-a-creed-is-the-expression-of-the/) [Peter Drucker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-drucker/) > [“What is, so to speak, the object of abolition? Not so much the abolition of prisons but the abolition of a society that could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fred-moten-and-stefano-harney/what-is-so-to-speak-the-object-of-abolition-not-so-much-the-abolition/) Fred Moten and Stefano Harney > [I can only say that there is not a man living who wishes more sincerely than I do, to see a plan adopted for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-washington/i-can-only-say-that-there-is-not-a-man-living-who-wishes-more/) [George Washington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-washington/) > [As a long-termist, I acknowledge there are more pressing causes than the abolition of private property.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ash-sarkar/as-a-long-termist-i-acknowledge-there-are-more-pressing-causes-than/) [Ash Sarkar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ash-sarkar/) > [Colonization was the idea that once slavery ended African-Americans should be encouraged - or required, in some people's view - required to leave the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-foner/colonization-was-the-idea-that-once-slavery-ended-african-americans/) [Eric Foner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-foner/) > [I am for socialism, disarmament, and, ultimately, for abolishing the state itself... I seek the social ownership of property, the abolition of the propertied…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-nash-baldwin/i-am-for-socialism-disarmament-and-ultimately-for-abolishing-the/) [Roger Nash Baldwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-nash-baldwin/) [Browse all 229 Abolition quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abolition/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“If he's a poet, why's he in jail?\" demanded a suspicious voice. Madam Chairwoman shrugged velvet shoulders. \"Perhaps he writes free verse,\" she suggested cunningly. A stir of approval answered her. 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