It’s simple, really

“What is it that makes Homer so much more vivid and concrete in his descriptions than any other poet?  His lively eye, with which he discerns so much more.  We all talk about poetry so abstractly because we all tend to be indifferent poets.  At bottom the esthetic phenomenon is quite simple: all one needs in order to be a poet is the ability to have a lively action going on before one continually, to live surrounded by hosts of spirits.  To be a dramatist all one needs is the urge to transform oneself and speak out of strange bodies and souls.” – Friedrich Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy from the Spirit of Music (trans. Golffing)