Why poetry?
We understand the need for Mathematics for numbers are everywhere, we understand the need for science for gadgets run our lives, we understand the need for language for we communicate through words. But why poetry? We can easily press the delete button when it comes to poems, from our lives, our education and our computers. Yet it is there. Why? Why should poetry be there in our lives and the lives of our children?
Poems make you see what you would have missed
Poetry teaches you to observe people and the things around with a keener eye, like a scientist.
A poem is like a still photograph. It holds a moment for you, it freezes in a word-frame the fleeting treasures before our eyes and our hearts. A poem is about noticing things. The flutter of a wing or leaf, the nod of a branch or head, the unshed tear all have a place in a poem. So do emotions strong and subtle. Poems hold a picture of moments, people, thought, emotions which we would otherwise not have looked at closely. It brings the rabbit out of his borough and nibble at the words like carrots. The insects seem to have a language and government, faces talk. The world becomes more alive, wider and much more beautiful!
Poetry connects you to great minds
Poetry has been the chosen medium of expression of many great men. It has been a treasure house of lofty thoughts. A poem is often a rainbow bridge to a radiant world of higher consciousness. It holds the mind and pulls it up, or quietens it so that enter a space of silent knowing. A poem makes you more sensitive and aware to the deeper aspects of life. It is a hand shake with great minds that walked upon the earth and used the medium poetry to convey messages that mattered to them. A poem becomes a bridge to a subtler and finer world.
Poetry fires imagination
A poem is different from prose. It is not a complete statement or a description, it doesn’t say everything. It is an invitation to discover, explore and imagination. It drops clues, hints, so you have to do your own walking to reach at the meaning. Sometimes you are one giving it a meaning. It is a journey and you step forward using the poetic map, you often create your own path. In creating it, you often discover things about yourself and the world around. A poem awakens the crucial faculty of imagination. The world changes, so do you.
Poetry empowers you
Inspirational poetry Inspirational poetry, especially which is learnt in childhood affects the emotional fabric of the individual. A verse that inspires confidence in times that are grey can often change the course of one’s life. Along with the deep emotional possibilities that poetry brings, there are several obvious benefits. The gifts of language that come from poetry are obvious, the phrases, analogies, metaphors, unique expressions linger in the memory and enrich the language of the one who’s learnt the poem. Those who read and learn poetry habitually have a greater ability of expressing themselves beautifully and clearly. It uplifts language and expression from basic level communication to an art.
Poetry makes you kind
Poetry awakens and sensitizes you. It gives you the gift of looking at details and understanding emotions, creating in you the capacity to empathise and imagine. Poetry reveals secrets of the human heart, in ways a common life may not. It opens you a deeper understanding of human nature. To truly understand the human elements in poetry you identify with aspects of characters or the emotions expressed, thereby deepening the experience of being human. The heart is made more refined through sensitive poems.