Why is poetry important?
I think a big part of poetry’s importance is that it is pretty unimportant. There aren’t many forms that take up space and time, jab out in surprising directions, and then disappear like the poem. A certain poem can certainly be sharply important to a certain reader, but I think it’s unpredictable and often a poem here and there rather than most poems, so I’d hesitate to say the form as a whole can be dubbed capital-I Important because of that. I do think, though, that a poem can often contain a certain uncertainty and inconclusion in a way that can feel more useful than an essay that purports to know something, which is good. (Though I of course distrust the poets who purport to know things, and anything I say that poetry doesn’t do someone is trying to do with poetry and proving me wrong—such is the form!) In that particular context—giving space for uncertainty—I suppose I could agree that poetry is important.
No comments:
Post a Comment