Jurnalisme ingin menceritakan apa yang telah terjadi di mana-mana seolah-olah hal yang sama terjadi pada setiap orang. Puisi ingin mengatakan seperti apa rasanya bagi siapa pun untuk menjadi dirinya sendiri di hadapan suatu kejadian tertentu seolah-olah hanya dia yang sendirian di sana. Asli: Journalism wishes to tell what it is that has happened everywhere as though the same things had happened for every man. Poetry wishes to say what it is like for any man to be himself in the presence of a particular occurrence as though only he were alone there.

— Kata-kata Bijak dari Archibald MacLeish