The way we teach people about poetry is strange.
Imagine that there is a child named Robert who had grown up in a far off and isolated village, in a place with no modern vehicles whatsoever. Imagine if Robert asked you, “What is a car?” How would you answer such a question?
I would say to Robert, “Let’s go and visit my friend, he knows the answer. He lives one hundred miles away.”
“A hundred miles?” Robert would say, “That’s too far to walk! We will become very tired, and the journey will take a long time.”
“In that case,” I would reply, “how can we visit my friend without walking?”