In my class ENGL 450 Daily Themes, Professor Ehrgood recently shared a snippet from Robert Frost regarding writing for the ear rather than for the eyes. I can’t stop thinking about it. It’s so incredibly salient and poignant.

The ear is the only true writer and only true reader

The ear does it. The ear is the only true writer and the only true reader. I have known people who could read without hearing the sentence sounds and they were the fastest readers. Eye readers we call them. They can get the meaning by glances. But they are bad readers because they miss the best part of what a good writer puts into his work.

The eye is a barbarian

The best reader of all is one who will read, can read, no faster than he can hear the lines and sentences in his mind’s ear as if aloud. Frequenting poetry has slowed him down by its metric or measured pace.

The eye reader is a barbarian. So also is the writer for the eye reader, who needn’t care how badly he writes since he doesn’t care how badly he is read.

“Barbarian” has a rather interesting connotation, which he noted. It is a rather problematic word, but in this context it works. It suggests that there isn’t a lack of intentionality—there is intention behind the actions—but that it is nevertheless brutish. It is human, but it doesn’t appreciate the art for what it is.