[All previous readings of I Knew a Woman] have assumed the woman to be real, having bones, skin, hips, nose, and other physical attributes; all have therefore concluded, with variations, that this is a love poem with erotic overtones. None considers the woman as a personified abstraction whose flesh-and-blood realism gives power to the symbolism. The "woman" is the Art of Poetry. The poem is a mature craftman's tribute to the form of art he has come to cherish, both as a self-fulfilling vocation and as a kind of salvation for his soul.

Several lines refer explicitly to the art of poetry in speaking of the woman. Only "English poets who grew up on Greek" have the right to discuss her rare qualities (except for gods themselves), and such discussions should be conducted formally and classically, as in Greek drama….

[Graceful] movement and beautiful structure (two essential qualities...