> Poetry is for the enjoyment and enlightenment of the reader.
Is it?
If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can warm me, I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry. These are the only ways I know it. Is there any other way?
- Emily Dickinson
Clearly Dickinson believes it is far more than what’s at the surface. It is more than the rhyme and rhythm. They add to the effect, but they are not necessary conditions. It’s generally agreed upon that art is defined by making you feel.
Lay people are often uninterested in poetry because they didn’t study it. There’s nothing wrong with that. Many are put off by elitists, garbage, and the difficulty to parse. But this is true for any subject matter, we see similarities in programming and in science. You see even many from there point to the surface and dismiss despite the importance being underneath. But it also doesn’t have to be for everyone. It’s not about being smart or dumb either, as most people happily get into the depths of the subjects they enjoy. Be it a child’s obsession with dinosaurs, a teen’s obsession in videogames, or an elite academic. We all have that capacity but there are always hurdles to entry and sometimes the point is to stumble. When it is, removing the hurdles harms the domain, even though it’s almost always done with the best of intentions. Eventually you gotta touch the stove top to learn it’s hot
Lay people are often uninterested in poetry because they didn’t study it. There’s nothing wrong with that. Many are put off by elitists, garbage, and the difficulty to parse. But this is true for any subject matter, we see similarities in programming and in science. You see even many from there point to the surface and dismiss despite the importance being underneath. But it also doesn’t have to be for everyone. It’s not about being smart or dumb either, as most people happily get into the depths of the subjects they enjoy. Be it a child’s obsession with dinosaurs, a teen’s obsession in videogames, or an elite academic. We all have that capacity but there are always hurdles to entry and sometimes the point is to stumble. When it is, removing the hurdles harms the domain, even though it’s almost always done with the best of intentions. Eventually you gotta touch the stove top to learn it’s hot