Happy New Year!

Familiarity with a wide array of creative works assists in thinking outside the box and creatively adapting to situations and environments.
You might be able to live your life happily as an order taking grunt who never has to think but that isn't the same as living to your fullest.
Even if you're naturally creative, wider horizons give you more places to go.

I completely agree with this mantra, but it also doesn't give the arrogant right to condescendingly interact with people like you are. You want people to read more books and become enlightened and creative? Persuade them by saying "Read more books and enjoy the ideas they contain!" rather than "Read more books or else you're ignorant, unintelligent, and incapable of adapting to situations and environments."

I suppose this comment was aimed more at the opinion that it's essential to know who Tennyson is, as your quoted reply is persuasive from an encouraging standpoint, but you had made such comments earlier, so I just wanted to step in and contribute my two cents .