/lit/ - Literature

Yes, it's true.

>I'm a failed poet. Maybe every novelist wants to write poetry first, finds he can't, and then tries the short story, which is the most demanding form after poetry. And, failing at that, only then does he take up novel writing.

That was said by Faulkner. Roberto Bolaño was also a failed poet turned author. James Joyce was also a failed poet. Vladimir Nabokov too. The list goes on.

I think it's important for every author to try their hands at poetry. A poet looks at language and at the art of writing distinctively, and truly when Nabokov and Joyce write in the way that they did they're using poetry in their prose. They wouldn't be able to develop a rich prosaic style if they hadn't read and written a good deal of poetry.
And yes, poetry is more difficult. Writing poetry requires you to use language in a completely different way than in ordinary life, not just or necessarily because it's labored and high-brow, but because its goals and methods of communication are of a completely different order.