What do you feel poetry can accomplish that other forms can’t?
When I’m trying to convince my students to give poetry another try, I tell them to think of something they feel no one could understand except those who have been through it. What comes up are the common devastations and transformations: combat, falling in love, heartbreak, loss, motherhood, and so on. Poetry, I believe, is the closest we can ever come to succeeding in bridging that gap. Poetry is the one thing that can evoke the complexity of thought and feeling that makes certain experiences seem beyond words. It’s the oldest form of literature because it was our first need: we want to connect.
No comments:
Post a Comment