'The dream of a common language'

'What I had in mind was poetry itself as connective urge and power... Do I want that? Yes. Do I want it in a literal sense, that each word or line I write has the same meaning for everyone as it does for me? No. Do I think poems are made of words used according to dictionary definitions? Obviously not. But poetry is an art of translation, a connective strand between unlike individuals, times and cultures.'

Adrienne Rich in an interview with Ruth Fainlight in the Independent on Sunday'