WHERE does poetry come from? It seems to me to derive from an altogether different place to that of other forms of writing. The power poetry has to invoke intense emotions suggests a more intimate source. The language it speaks is not understood by everyone. Indeed, it is grasped only by those capable of looking within themselves, those not afraid to explore what their heart is really saying to them. To appreciate poetry fully one has to be open and honest with oneself and be ready, too, to entertain new ideas, feelings and experiences.
Poetry has a mysticism and mystery quite unlike any other use of language. It can take one to a higher plane than mere prose, however beautifully that may be expressed. For the poet to write it requires soul searching and sometimes sacrifice of something deep within to enable that outpouring of lines, often so much more poignant than had the same scene or story been described in a different style. Poetry has an elegance and eloquence that is indestructible no matter how crude or brutal a picture it attempts to convey. The rhythm of the words and the structure of the lines can cut breathtakingly deep in a poem, say, of tragedy and loss. The passion of first love or the sense of joy of birth or regeneration may similarly be intensified immeasurably through the telling of it in verse.
19/04/09
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