William Faulkner, one of America’s most respected authors and recipient of the Nobel PRize in Literature, said the following in a 1956 interview: “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 writing.”
What do you think Faulkner meant by this quote? What abilities or talents might a poet or short story writer possess that a novelist, even a novelist as talented as Faulkner, might be missing?