The Simian-Think-Tank Forum Not the thing said, but a way ..

'I cannot satisfy myself that there are any such things as poetic ideas. No truth it seems to me, is too precious, no observation too profound, and no sentiment too exalted to be expressed in prose. The utmost that I could admit is that some ideas do, while others do not, lend themselves kindly to poetical expression; and that these receive from poetry an enhancement which glorifies and almost transfigures them, and which is not perceived to be a separate thing except by analysis.'

'...poetry is not the thing said but a way of saying it...'

'...the intellect is not the fount of poetry, it may actually hinder its production, and it cannot even be trusted to recognize poetry when it is produced.'

All above from A.E Housman, 'The Name and Nature of Poetry (printed 1933) '