One of our universities recently made a survey of the reading habits of the American public; it decided that forty-eight percent of all Americans read, during a year, no book at all. I picture to myself that reader — that non-reader, rather; one man out of every two — and I reflect, with shame: Our poems are too hard for him. But so, too, are Treasure Island, Peter Rabbit, pornographic novels — any book whatsoever.
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About Randall Jarrell
Randall Jarrell was a 20th-century American writer. Randall Jarrell jə-REL was an American poet, literary critic, children's author, essayist, and novelist. He was the 11th Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress—a position that now bears the title Poet Laureate of the United States. Read more on Wikipedia →