--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It seems like every ten years there's a…" description: "\"It seems like every ten years there's a book that says that poetry used to be popular, and now it's not, but we really have no way of knowing, in terms..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3bf/robert-hass-3548_audience_it-seems-like-every-ten-years-there-s-a_596989.png" --- # It seems like every ten years there's a book that says… ![“It seems like every ten years there's a book that says that poetry used to be popular, and now it's not, but we really have no way of knowing, in terms of relative size of audience and other things, exactly who readers were.” quote by Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3bf/robert-hass-3548_audience_it-seems-like-every-ten-years-there-s-a_596989.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3bf/robert-hass-3548_audience_it-seems-like-every-ten-years-there-s-a_596989.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3bf/robert-hass-3548_audience_it-seems-like-every-ten-years-there-s-a_596989.png) > “It seems like every ten years there's a book that says that poetry used to be popular, and now it's not, but we really have no way of knowing, in terms of relative size of audience and other things, exactly who readers were.” [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote highlights the difficulty of accurately measuring poetry’s popularity over time due to lacking reliable audience data. **In simple terms:** Poetry’s popularity is hard to measure. Key Takeaway Accept uncertainty and seek diverse literary experiences. Themes literature measurement culture Mood reflective curious Type analytical observational When to use this quote - publishing - education - library programming - literary criticism Key Concepts audience metrics historical analysis Questions to Reflect On - How can we better track literary trends? - What alternative indicators reveal poetry’s impact? A Different Perspective Data on readership is often incomplete or biased. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Audience](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/audience/) [Book](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/book/) [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Readers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/readers/) ## Related quotes > [Willmott, the English essayist, says poetry is the natural religion of literature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-rounseville-alger/willmott-the-english-essayist-says-poetry-is-the-natural-religion-of/) [William Rounseville Alger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-rounseville-alger/) > [“…There is some firm place in me which knows that what happened to Wally, whatever it was, whatever it is that death is as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-doty/there-is-some-firm-place-in-me-which-knows-that-what-happened-to/) [Mark Doty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-doty/) > [“At the top of the heap is poetry,at least as it used to be written.Nothing else goes far,nothing goes as deep n the blood…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeffrey-moore/at-the-top-of-the-heap-is-poetry-at-least-as-it-used-to-be-written/) Jeffrey Moore > [My mother - my stepmother, really, she herself have been what they call an elocutionist. 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We…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-tyler/you-should-have-felt-the-buzz-the-moment-all-five-of-us-got-together/) [Steven Tyler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-tyler/) > [One Christmas was so much like another, in those years around the sea-town corner now and out of all sound except the distant speaking…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dylan-thomas/one-christmas-was-so-much-like-another-in-those-years-around-the-sea/) [Dylan Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dylan-thomas/) ## More by Robert Hass > [It's the same with this idea of a literate public, and also of a democracy in which people have access to and really read…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/it-s-the-same-with-this-idea-of-a-literate-public-and-also-of-a/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [All the new thinking is about loss. 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So I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/when-i-was-in-college-i-lost-my-scholarship-one-year-i-had-enough/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [As poet laureate, I was asked to be a spokesman for literature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/as-poet-laureate-i-was-asked-to-be-a-spokesman-for-literature/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [After Pope, in the beginning of Romanticism, people developed the idea that imagination rather than reason was a special form of knowledge and its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/after-pope-in-the-beginning-of-romanticism-people-developed-the-idea/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [They are the kinds of things that make us a community: attachment to place, attachment to local arts traditions, the ability to read literature,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/they-are-the-kinds-of-things-that-make-us-a-community-attachment-to/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [I think that were I in the middle of an obsession to write about, say, sudden oak death in California or my grandchildren or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/i-think-that-were-i-in-the-middle-of-an-obsession-to-write-about-say/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [I suppose there's something to be said for the sheer reinforcement of our beliefs, but really I think poetry is more useful as disenchantment…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/i-suppose-there-s-something-to-be-said-for-the-sheer-reinforcement-of/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [If you were making poetry out of convictions - trying to convince other people - you were in the territory of rhetoric, and that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/if-you-were-making-poetry-out-of-convictions-trying-to-convince-other/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [Milton was the first person who really experimented with putting politics into sonnets.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/milton-was-the-first-person-who-really-experimented-with-putting/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [When I came into the job, funding for the humanities at the federal level was being drastically cut. 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When everything broken is broken, and everything dead…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/a-faint-music-by-robert-hass-maybe-you-need-to-write-a-poem-about/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [“When everything broken is broken, and everything dead is dead, and the hero has looked into the mirror with complete contempt, and the heroine…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/when-everything-broken-is-broken-and-everything-dead-is-dead-and-the/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) [Explore all 128 Robert Hass quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) ## More Audience quotes > [If the audience likes your work, if they like you, they don't think whether you are married or have children or not. 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That makes the theater…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-blaemire/the-liveness-of-theater-and-the-excitement-of-experiencing-it/) [Nick Blaemire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-blaemire/) > [One of the things that touches me most when I play for an audience is that although we may be unable to communicate in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-hough/one-of-the-things-that-touches-me-most-when-i-play-for-an-audience-is/) [Stephen Hough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-hough/) > [I have to feel the audience. I enjoy that feeling of community.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dave-gahan/i-have-to-feel-the-audience-i-enjoy-that-feeling-of-community/) [Dave Gahan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dave-gahan/) > [When you lived it for years and years and years and seen different characters just get pummeled and squashed because 'I said so,' it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arn-anderson/when-you-lived-it-for-years-and-years-and-years-and-seen-different/) [Arn Anderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arn-anderson/) > [“During the first few minutes of your presentation, your job is to assure the audience members that you are not going to waste their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dale-ludwig-and-greg-owen-boger/during-the-first-few-minutes-of-your-presentation-your-job-is-to/) [Dale Ludwig and Greg Owen-Boger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dale-ludwig-and-greg-owen-boger/) > [Donald Trump is a different ball of wax. 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