--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Few poets have made a more interesting…" description: "\"Few poets have made a more interesting rhetoric out of just fooling around: turning things upside down, looking at them from under the sofa, considerin..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1a6/randall-jarrell-3811_considering_few-poets-have-made-a-more-interesting-r_729149.jpg" --- # Few poets have made a more interesting rhetoric out of… ![“Few poets have made a more interesting rhetoric out of just fooling around: turning things upside down, looking at them from under the sofa, considering them (and their observer) curiously enough to make the reader protest, "That were to consider it too curiously.” quote by Randall Jarrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1a6/randall-jarrell-3811_considering_few-poets-have-made-a-more-interesting-r_729149.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1a6/randall-jarrell-3811_considering_few-poets-have-made-a-more-interesting-r_729149.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1a6/randall-jarrell-3811_considering_few-poets-have-made-a-more-interesting-r_729149.jpg) > “Few poets have made a more interesting rhetoric out of just fooling around: turning things upside down, looking at them from under the sofa, considering them (and their observer) curiously enough to make the reader protest, "That were to consider it too curiously.” [Randall Jarrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randall-jarrell/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Poets can reveal truth by playfully subverting expectations, prompting readers to examine familiar things from fresh perspectives. **In simple terms:** Playful subversion reveals hidden truths. Key Takeaway Embrace curiosity and challenge norms. Themes creativity perspective subversion humor Mood playful provocative Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - writing workshops - teaching literature - creative brainstorming - marketing campaigns Key Concepts postmodernism critical observation literary play Questions to Reflect On - How does humor change your perception of reality? - What assumptions do you challenge through play? A Different Perspective May be dismissed as frivolous without deeper analysis. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Consider Curiously](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/consider-curiously-5715773/) [Considering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/considering/) [Curiously](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/curiously/) [Enough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/enough/) [Fooling around](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fooling-around/) [Interesting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/interesting/) [Interesting Rhetoric](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/interesting-rhetoric-5715771/) [Made](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/made/) [Observer Curiously](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/observer-curiously-5715774/) [Observers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/observers/) [Poet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poet/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Poets Interesting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poets-interesting-5715772/) [Protest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/protest/) [Reader](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reader/) [Rhetoric](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rhetoric/) [Sofas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sofas/) [Things upside down](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/things-upside-down-190099/) [Upside down](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/upside-down/) ## Related quotes > [Twere to consider too curiously, to consider so.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/twere-to-consider-too-curiously-to-consider-so/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [The chief danger of the Church today is that it is trying to get on the same side as the world, instead of turning…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-b-simpson/the-chief-danger-of-the-church-today-is-that-it-is-trying-to-get-on/) [A. B. Simpson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-b-simpson/) > [H.P.Lovecraft could've been trying to do a Marx to Hegel, that kind of thing, in other words, turn the thing upside down and crawl…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-laffoley/h-p-lovecraft-could-ve-been-trying-to-do-a-marx-to-hegel-that-kind-of/) [Paul Laffoley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-laffoley/) > [The idea that laws decide what is right or wrong is mistaken in general. Laws are, at their best, an attempt to achieve justice;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-stallman/the-idea-that-laws-decide-what-is-right-or-wrong-is-mistaken-in/) [Richard Stallman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-stallman/) > [I think what we need to do is to step back as a society and say okay, we've kind of turned things upside-down. We…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/debora-spar/i-think-what-we-need-to-do-is-to-step-back-as-a-society-and-say-okay/) [Debora Spar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/debora-spar/) > [When you think about Uber and Airbnb and the other companies that are turning things upside down, Uber isn't big 'cause they ran a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-godin/when-you-think-about-uber-and-airbnb-and-the-other-companies-that-are/) [Seth Godin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-godin/) > [The miracles of Jesus are signs of the right order of things. Jesus was not so much turning things upside down as turning them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-chandler/the-miracles-of-jesus-are-signs-of-the-right-order-of-things-jesus/) [Matt Chandler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-chandler/) > [The anarchists put the thing upside down. They declare that the proletarian revolution must begin by doing away with the political organization of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-engels/the-anarchists-put-the-thing-upside-down-they-declare-that-the/) [Friedrich Engels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-engels/) > [It's amazing where a joke might come from. I find a lot of humour just by metaphorically turning things upside down or literally like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emo-philips/it-s-amazing-where-a-joke-might-come-from-i-find-a-lot-of-humour-just/) [Emo Philips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emo-philips/) > [If you don't have your experiences in the moment, if you gloss them over with jokes or zoom past them, you end up with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-rakoff/if-you-don-t-have-your-experiences-in-the-moment-if-you-gloss-them/) [David Rakoff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-rakoff/) > [I do like Burial; he's so curiously clumsy, you can't help but be moved. It's so un-Hollywood, and the rhythms are so un-danceable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/i-do-like-burial-he-s-so-curiously-clumsy-you-can-t-help-but-be-moved/) [Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/) > [Curiously enough, it seems to be only in describing a mode of language which does not mean what it says that one can actually…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-de-man/curiously-enough-it-seems-to-be-only-in-describing-a-mode-of-language/) [Paul de Man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-de-man/) > [“How curiously one is changed by the addition, even at a distance, of a friend. How useful an office one's friends perform when they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/how-curiously-one-is-changed-by-the-addition-even-at-a-distance-of-a/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [“I follow and cultivate my own curiosity. I think curiosity is one of the top two or three human characteristics. It's something that I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hank-green/i-follow-and-cultivate-my-own-curiosity-i-think-curiosity-is-one-of/) [Hank Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hank-green/) > [In this day and age, there's just so much that can hyperstimulate us, and curiously, it is not satisfying us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christine-baranski/in-this-day-and-age-there-s-just-so-much-that-can-hyperstimulate-us/) [Christine Baranski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christine-baranski/) ## More by Randall Jarrell > [“She helped the hunter with the cooking as a husband helps his wife: when he had gone out to hunt and left something to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randall-jarrell/she-helped-the-hunter-with-the-cooking-as-a-husband-helps-his-wife/) [Randall Jarrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randall-jarrell/) > [We read our mail and counted up our missions In bombers named for girls, we burned The cities we had learned about in school…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randall-jarrell/we-read-our-mail-and-counted-up-our-missions-in-bombers-named-for/) [Randall Jarrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randall-jarrell/) > [One of the most obvious facts about grown-ups, to a child, is that they have forgotten what it is like to be a child.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randall-jarrell/one-of-the-most-obvious-facts-about-grown-ups-to-a-child-is-that-they/) [Randall Jarrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randall-jarrell/) > [Goethe said that the worst thing in art is technical facility accompanied by triteness. 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Who fights for his own life Loses, loses: I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randall-jarrell/the-tags-chain-stirs-with-the-wind-and-i-sleep-paid-dead-and-a/) [Randall Jarrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randall-jarrell/) > [First one gets works of art, then criticism of them, then criticism of the criticism, and, finally, a book on The Literary Situation ,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randall-jarrell/first-one-gets-works-of-art-then-criticism-of-them-then-criticism-of/) [Randall Jarrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randall-jarrell/) > [ Early in his life Mr. \[Ezra\] Pound met with strong, continued, and unintelligent opposition. If people keep opposing you when you are right, you… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randall-jarrell/early-in-his-life-mr-ezra-pound-met-with-strong-continued-and/) [Randall Jarrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randall-jarrell/) > [Some of Mr. Gregory's poems have merely appeared in The New Yorker ; others are New Yorker poems: the inclusive topicality, the informed and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randall-jarrell/some-of-mr-gregory-s-poems-have-merely-appeared-in-the-new-yorker/) [Randall Jarrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randall-jarrell/) > [A successful poem says what a poet wants to say, and more, with particular finality. The remarks he makes about his poems are incidental…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randall-jarrell/a-successful-poem-says-what-a-poet-wants-to-say-and-more-with/) [Randall Jarrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randall-jarrell/) > [One Whitman is miracle enough, and when he comes again it will be the end of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randall-jarrell/one-whitman-is-miracle-enough-and-when-he-comes-again-it-will-be-the/) [Randall Jarrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randall-jarrell/) > [Robert Frost says in a piece of homely doggerel that he has hoped wisdom could be not only Attic but Laconic, Boeotian even -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randall-jarrell/robert-frost-says-in-a-piece-of-homely-doggerel-that-he-has-hoped/) [Randall Jarrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randall-jarrell/) > [Most people don't listen to classical music at all, but to rock-and-roll or hillbilly songs or some album named Music To Listen To Music…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randall-jarrell/most-people-don-t-listen-to-classical-music-at-all-but-to-rock-and/) [Randall Jarrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randall-jarrell/) [Explore all 121 Randall Jarrell quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randall-jarrell/) ## More Considering quotes > [When the first Superman movie came out I was frequently asked "What is a hero?" ...My answer was that a hero is someone who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-reeve/when-the-first-superman-movie-came-out-i-was-frequently-asked-what-is/) [Christopher Reeve](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-reeve/) > [“I have found it an amusing strategy, when asked whether I am an atheist, to point out that the questioner is also an atheist…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/i-have-found-it-an-amusing-strategy-when-asked-whether-i-am-an/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [“... she took her husband's jokes and joviality as patiently as everything else, considering that "men would be so", and viewing the stronger sex…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/she-took-her-husband-s-jokes-and-joviality-as-patiently-as-everything/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [One of the most destructive mistakes we Christians make is to prioritize shared beliefs over shared relationship, which is deeply ironic considering we worship…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-held-evans/one-of-the-most-destructive-mistakes-we-christians-make-is-to/) [Rachel Held Evans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-held-evans/) > [“Have you ever considered the idea that some of our life experiences should be looked upon as stepping stones, needed in order to cross…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jen-turano/have-you-ever-considered-the-idea-that-some-of-our-life-experiences/) [Jen Turano](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jen-turano/) > [There is no reason not to consider the world as one gigantic painting,](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-rauschenberg/there-is-no-reason-not-to-consider-the-world-as-one-gigantic-painting/) [Robert Rauschenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-rauschenberg/) > [While we are contending for our own liberty, we should be very cautious not to violate the conscience of others, ever considering that God…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-washington/while-we-are-contending-for-our-own-liberty-we-should-be-very/) [George Washington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-washington/) > [I have given up considering happiness as relevant.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-gorey/i-have-given-up-considering-happiness-as-relevant/) [Edward Gorey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-gorey/) > [I feel in me the vocation of the Priest. I have the vocation of the Apostle. Martyrdom was the dream of my youth, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/therese-of-lisieux/i-feel-in-me-the-vocation-of-the-priest-i-have-the-vocation-of-the/) [Therese of Lisieux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/therese-of-lisieux/) > [I agree that biphobia is real, but I think it's absolutely worth considering that someone who "despises" having sex with her husband - and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mallory-ortberg/i-agree-that-biphobia-is-real-but-i-think-it-s-absolutely-worth/) [Mallory Ortberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mallory-ortberg/) > [While I'm at second slip I'm not just thinking of what I'm going to have for tea. 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