Text is just ink on a page until a reader comes along and gives it life.

Text is just ink on a page until a reader comes along and gives it life.

A poem is what the reader lives through under the guidance of the text and experiences as relevant to the text.

Books do not simply happen to people. People also happen to books.

Literature provides us with experiences it would not be wise or possible to introduce into our own world and thus enlarges our understanding of the world.

The reader brings to the work personality traits, memories of past events, present needs and preoccupations, a particular mood of the moment and a particular physical condition. These and many other elements in a never-to-be-duplicated combination determine his response to the text.