"It is difficult to get the news from poetry, yet men die miserably every day for lack of what is found there."-William Carlos Williams

What this quote is saying, in my opinion, is that poetry provides something that can't be found anywhere else in life. When it says men die miserably every day, the word "miserably" is key. The do not actually die; this is only figuratively speaking. Rather, part of their person is dying. The happiness and fulfillment they could obtain from reading poetry is lost when they do not read it. In other words, "a life without poetry is a life unfulfilled."