Poetry is certainly something more than good sense, but it must be good sense, just as a palace is more than a house, but it must be a house

Ah! well a-day! what evil looks
Had I from old and young!
Instead of the cross, the Albatross
About my neck was hung.

Prose--words in their best order;--poetry--the best words in their best order.

In the hexameter rises the fountain's silvery column: In the pentameter aye falling in melody back.

What if you slept
And what if
In your sleep
You dreamed
And what if
In your dream
You went to heaven
And there plucked a strange and beautiful flower
And what if
When you awoke
You had that flower in you hand
Ah, what then?

Water, water, everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink.