Who Needs Poetry?
Every person has had a special moment when their soul leaps up and shouts for joy. Every heart has felt the agony of suffering and pain. And every one of us has our own unique perspective on life as it happens. These are the universal ingredients of poetry.
In education, there are the mechanical studies—math, science, and physical education. Then there are the thinking studies—history, language, philosophy, and English. And finally, there are the feeling studies—art, dance, music, and poetry. All of these combine to make a complete person, reaching the body, mind, and soul.
However, poetry in particular seems to be a neglected study as it contains language, but does not necessarily compute as a “thinking” study but rather a “feeling” study. In a way, it can feel like using math symbols to tell a story—rudimentary and frustrating.
The mechanical and thinking studies of the world are easier to understand since they attempt to measure and observe the knowable world. For this reason, thinking personality types will always be drawn towards these studies, as feelers will be drawn towards the arts. Neither is better than the other, and each person must have an appropriate balance between both thinking and feeling in order to become fully functional.
We can think of life like a bike. The thinking studies can teach you what a bike is made of. But they can’t tell you what a bike means. Art, particularly poetry, invites us to get on the bike, have an experience, the. attempt to explain its significance. Poetry taps into the meaning of life and the essence of moments and feelings.
Poetry is not necessarily something “all new” or “novel.” The best poems are always resonate with the greater human experience. However, they slow us down over moments or ideas we might skip over if we are overly-preoccupied with the mechanical world.
Good poetry does not involve wallowing in personal emotions or griefs, but rather attempts to sync these emotions with the greater human experience, putting them into perspective.
The heartbreak experienced by the death of a loved one, divorce, or illness is universal, therefore good poetry will unite a suffering soul to the greater knowledge of suffering and attempt to give that suffering perspective and meaning. For Christians, suffering is a byproduct of the fall of man—our willful disobedience to God has created a gaping wound in the universe which we are forever falling into.
Well-being, peace, and joy are also universal, therefore poetry can unite a rejoicing soul to the greater knowledge of joy. For Christians, joy is found when Christ is in every arena of our lives—binding up our wounds, saving us from sin and death, and training our hearts towards God. Joy is not bound to physical circumstances, but rather to the penultimate reality of God.
This is why I believe poetry is so prevalent in the Bible. God rests at the heart of all things—mechanics, thoughts, and feelings all stem from the reality of God’s existence. To be parted from Him is suffering, to be united to Him is joy. He is all that cannot be explained, and yet must be communicated—therefore, poetry exists.
The human experience is a lonely thing since we have language but often cannot communicate what we really mean to one another. Trapped in our own bodies, minds, and souls, we are limited in our communication. God is truly the only being who knows us intimately, and much of our human suffering is due to the fact that we can be known by Him, but we cannot know Him as deeply as we wish.
Poetry seeks to push the boundaries between man and God and man to man. God speaks to us in poetry, a language beyond language to reach our spirits. When we speak back to Him in poetry and to one another in poetry, we are touching on a reality that is beyond us, as though pushing through a dream that doesn’t quite make sense, attempting to wake up.
