--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I think that one possible definition of…" description: "\"I think that one possible definition of our modern culture is that it is one in which nine- tenths of our intellectuals can't read any poetry\" — Randal..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/645/randall-jarrell-3811_culture_i-think-that-one-possible-definition-of_1952327.png" --- # I think that one possible definition of our modern culture… ![“I think that one possible definition of our modern culture is that it is one in which nine- tenths of our intellectuals can't read any poetry” quote by Randall Jarrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/645/randall-jarrell-3811_culture_i-think-that-one-possible-definition-of_1952327.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/645/randall-jarrell-3811_culture_i-think-that-one-possible-definition-of_1952327.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/645/randall-jarrell-3811_culture_i-think-that-one-possible-definition-of_1952327.png) > “I think that one possible definition of our modern culture is that it is one in which nine- tenths of our intellectuals can't read any poetry” [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. Modern culture devalues deep literary appreciation, leaving most intellectuals unable to engage with poetry. **In simple terms:** Most intellectuals can’t read poetry. Key Takeaway Encourage poetry literacy. Themes culture education literature Mood reflective critical Type analytical commentary When to use this quote - university curricula - media consumption - public discourse Key Concepts intellectual decline elitism Questions to Reflect On - How can poetry be made more inclusive? - What role should education play in preserving poetic appreciation? A Different Perspective Poetry may be seen as elitist, limiting accessibility. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Culture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/culture/) [Modern culture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/modern-culture/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) ## Related quotes > [“I went on writing reviews for the newspaper, and critical articles crying out for a different approach to culture, as even the most inattentive…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roberto-bola-o/i-went-on-writing-reviews-for-the-newspaper-and-critical-articles/) [Roberto Bolaño](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roberto-bola-o/) > [Intellectuals that read a lot of books might not have been interested in Mobb Deep before 'My Infamous Life,' but now they might go,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/prodigy/intellectuals-that-read-a-lot-of-books-might-not-have-been-interested/) [Prodigy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/prodigy/) > [While much of modern behavioral and social science treats individuals as autonomous agents, it is absolutely clear that the way we think and act…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-r-nelson/while-much-of-modern-behavioral-and-social-science-treats-individuals/) Richard R. Nelson > [As an artist and a songwriter myself, I like to feel connected to modern culture and watch how sounds change.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-feldmann/as-an-artist-and-a-songwriter-myself-i-like-to-feel-connected-to/) [John Feldmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-feldmann/) > [The Church cannot be content to live in its stained-glass house and throw stones through the picture window of modern culture.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-mcafee-brown/the-church-cannot-be-content-to-live-in-its-stained-glass-house-and/) [Robert McAfee Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-mcafee-brown/) > [In a post-modern culture we need an apologetic that is felt and seen because if post-moderns are not feeling it, they are not believing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ravi-zacharias/in-a-post-modern-culture-we-need-an-apologetic-that-is-felt-and-seen/) [Ravi Zacharias](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ravi-zacharias/) > [The bedroom is an archetype. To me it stands for a lot of the silliness of our modern culture where the kind of things…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/weyes-blood/the-bedroom-is-an-archetype-to-me-it-stands-for-a-lot-of-the/) [Weyes Blood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/weyes-blood/) > [There is a tremendous problem in modern culture. We have become used to everything coming to us with tremendous speed and ease. It is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-greene/there-is-a-tremendous-problem-in-modern-culture-we-have-become-used/) [Robert Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-greene/) > [The history of modern culture is a history of popular entertainments evolving into art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-hoberek/the-history-of-modern-culture-is-a-history-of-popular-entertainments/) Andrew Hoberek > [The old Lakota was wise. He knew that a man's heart away from nature becomes hard.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luther-standing-bear/the-old-lakota-was-wise-he-knew-that-a-man-s-heart-away-from-nature/) [Luther Standing Bear](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luther-standing-bear/) > [I watch a lot of bad TV. I spend my entire day reading and writing, and after dinner my idea of fun is just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-philbrick/i-watch-a-lot-of-bad-tv-i-spend-my-entire-day-reading-and-writing-and/) [Nathaniel Philbrick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-philbrick/) > [The first principle of modern cultures may be their connectedness. Culture is like wind and wind knows no boundary or center. Once there is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mu-xin/the-first-principle-of-modern-cultures-may-be-their-connectedness/) [Mu Xin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mu-xin/) > [“On the practical level modern life consists of a constant pursuit of power within a universe devoid of meaning. Modern culture is the most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yuval-noah-harari/on-the-practical-level-modern-life-consists-of-a-constant-pursuit-of/) [Yuval Noah Harari](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yuval-noah-harari/) > [Nietzsche is absolutely correct, even more correct today than when he wrote it in Thus Spake Zarathustra: I looked all about me for human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenny-smith/nietzsche-is-absolutely-correct-even-more-correct-today-than-when-he/) [Kenny Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenny-smith/) > [Knowledge was inherent in all things. The world was a library.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luther-standing-bear/knowledge-was-inherent-in-all-things-the-world-was-a-library/) [Luther Standing Bear](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luther-standing-bear/) ## 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. Many an artist, like God, has never needed to think…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randall-jarrell/goethe-said-that-the-worst-thing-in-art-is-technical-facility/) [Randall Jarrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randall-jarrell/) > [Age could not wither nor custom stale her infinite monotony: in fact, neither Age nor Custom could do anything (as they said, their voices…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randall-jarrell/age-could-not-wither-nor-custom-stale-her-infinite-monotony-in-fact/) [Randall Jarrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randall-jarrell/) > [A poet is a man who manages, in a lifetime of standing out in thunderstorms, to be struck by lightning five or six times.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randall-jarrell/a-poet-is-a-man-who-manages-in-a-lifetime-of-standing-out-in/) [Randall Jarrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randall-jarrell/) > [More and more people think of the critic as an indispensable middle man between writer and reader, and would no more read a book…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randall-jarrell/more-and-more-people-think-of-the-critic-as-an-indispensable-middle/) [Randall Jarrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randall-jarrell/) > [“The tags' chain stirs with the wind; and I sleep Paid, dead, and a soldier. 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 Culture quotes > [What sets worlds in motion is the interplay of differences, their attractions and repulsions. Life is plurality, death is uniformity. By suppressing differences and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/what-sets-worlds-in-motion-is-the-interplay-of-differences-their/) [Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) > [Philosopher is a dictator who modifies accepted standards with his thoughts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilkin-santak/philosopher-is-a-dictator-who-modifies-accepted-standards-with-his/) [Ilkin Santak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilkin-santak/) > [A lot of indigenous cultures are deeply involved in working with ancestor spirits, elemental spirits, and demons. Many of these cultures feel that, if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-pinchbeck/a-lot-of-indigenous-cultures-are-deeply-involved-in-working-with/) [Daniel Pinchbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-pinchbeck/) > [In the hearing world, I'm constantly having to lip-read and trying to understand what's going on. Sign language is so beautiful. It gives you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rose-ayling-ellis/in-the-hearing-world-i-m-constantly-having-to-lip-read-and-trying-to/) [Rose Ayling-Ellis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rose-ayling-ellis/) > [I was born and raised in Orlando, where the economy and culture has been powerfully shaped by tourism, and so I've long been interested…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-van-den-berg/i-was-born-and-raised-in-orlando-where-the-economy-and-culture-has/) [Laura van den Berg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-van-den-berg/) > [Our times demand the declaration of the world's resources as the common heritage of all people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacque-fresco/our-times-demand-the-declaration-of-the-world-s-resources-as-the/) [Jacque Fresco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacque-fresco/) > [The U.S.-Mexican border es un herida abierta where the Third World grates against the first and bleeds. And before a scab forms it hemorrhages…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gloria-e-anzald-a/the-u-s-mexican-border-es-un-herida-abierta-where-the-third-world/) [Gloria E. Anzaldúa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gloria-e-anzald-a/) > [What it comes down to for me is this: Will the technologies of communication in our culture, serve to enlighten us and help us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-waters/what-it-comes-down-to-for-me-is-this-will-the-technologies-of/) [Roger Waters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-waters/) > [I think it's useful to experience other types of dance and other cultures, and the life of a classical dancer these days is certainly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deborah-bull/i-think-it-s-useful-to-experience-other-types-of-dance-and-other/) [Deborah Bull](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deborah-bull/) > [In the movie, the stars above the ship bear no correspondence to any constellations in a real sky. Worse yet, while the heroine bobs...…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-degrasse-tyson/in-the-movie-the-stars-above-the-ship-bear-no-correspondence-to-any/) [Neil deGrasse Tyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-degrasse-tyson/) > [It is not my intention to explain Turkey, its culture and its problems. My literature has a universal concern: I want to bring people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orhan-pamuk/it-is-not-my-intention-to-explain-turkey-its-culture-and-its-problems/) [Orhan Pamuk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orhan-pamuk/) > [I don't think the distinction between high and low culture exists anymore.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeremy-scott/i-don-t-think-the-distinction-between-high-and-low-culture-exists/) [Jeremy Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeremy-scott/) > [You get below the Mason-Dixon line and you have some of the best music, culture, the two races, the literature, and it's so rich.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-duvall/you-get-below-the-mason-dixon-line-and-you-have-some-of-the-best/) [Robert Duvall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-duvall/) > [It is proposed that a form of free dialogue may well be one of the most effective ways of investigating the crisis which faces…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-bohm/it-is-proposed-that-a-form-of-free-dialogue-may-well-be-one-of-the/) [David Bohm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-bohm/) > [“Being grounded in your lifelong culture and your personal perspective, you are comfortable with the way you see things and may believe it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-c-young/being-grounded-in-your-lifelong-culture-and-your-personal-perspective/) [Susan C. Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-c-young/) [Browse all 15,940 Culture quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/culture/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I think that one possible definition of our modern culture is that it is one in which nine- tenths of our intellectuals can't read any poetry", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Randall Jarrell" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randall-jarrell/i-think-that-one-possible-definition-of-our-modern-culture-is-that-it/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Culture" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randall-jarrell/i-think-that-one-possible-definition-of-our-modern-culture-is-that-it/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/645/randall-jarrell-3811_culture_i-think-that-one-possible-definition-of_1952327.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/645/randall-jarrell-3811_culture_i-think-that-one-possible-definition-of_1952327.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/645/randall-jarrell-3811_culture_i-think-that-one-possible-definition-of_1952327.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I think that one possible definition of our modern culture is that it is one in which nine- tenths of our…” — Randall Jarrell", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Randall Jarrell", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randall-jarrell/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "I think that one possible definition...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randall-jarrell/i-think-that-one-possible-definition-of-our-modern-culture-is-that-it/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randall-jarrell/i-think-that-one-possible-definition-of-our-modern-culture-is-that-it/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```