Why Do We Turn to Poetry at the Important Moments in Our Lives? - Garrison Institute
Metadata
Highlights
- Robert Frost line, “A poem is a momentary stay against confusion.” Not only has someone stood where we’ve stood, but they’ve somehow created a structure that can hold order and disorder in equipoise. They can hold what Rainer Maria Rilke calls the unsayable nature of every moment and also create a structure that can give a kind of order, sound, and sense to it.
- The poems that we turn to over and over again are deeply felt and well made. When you pick them up, they don’t rattle. And it’s interesting that with these kinds of poems, you usually don’t feel the personality of the poet taking over.
- Yes, like a talisman. It’s like a stone that you put in your pocket or hold in your hand. We have talked about this a lot, Marie, that writing or reading a really good poem at a particular time can transform you
- Stanley Kunitz used to say that poetry is aware that we are both living and dying at the same time. We think, “Oh, my God. I’m alive.” And, “Oh, my God. One day I won’t be.” We experience the mystery of living on a planet, circling a star—the full catastrophe of living is so mysterious and unknowable. We’re hurdling through space, stuck to this planet by gravity. We’re not who we think we are. We don’t know what’s happening. So we make these songs to sing to each other. We make these sounds that both reassure us and urge us on, they help us sleep and help us wake up.
title: “Why Do We Turn to Poetry at the Important Moments in Our Lives? - Garrison Institute”
author: “garrisoninstitute.org”
url: ”https://www.garrisoninstitute.org/blog/turn-poetry-important-moments-lives/”
date: 2023-12-19
source: hypothesis
tags: media/articles
Why Do We Turn to Poetry at the Important Moments in Our Lives? - Garrison Institute
Metadata
Highlights
- Robert Frost line, “A poem is a momentary stay against confusion.” Not only has someone stood where we’ve stood, but they’ve somehow created a structure that can hold order and disorder in equipoise. They can hold what Rainer Maria Rilke calls the unsayable nature of every moment and also create a structure that can give a kind of order, sound, and sense to it.
- The poems that we turn to over and over again are deeply felt and well made. When you pick them up, they don’t rattle. And it’s interesting that with these kinds of poems, you usually don’t feel the personality of the poet taking over.
- Yes, like a talisman. It’s like a stone that you put in your pocket or hold in your hand. We have talked about this a lot, Marie, that writing or reading a really good poem at a particular time can transform you
- Stanley Kunitz used to say that poetry is aware that we are both living and dying at the same time. We think, “Oh, my God. I’m alive.” And, “Oh, my God. One day I won’t be.” We experience the mystery of living on a planet, circling a star—the full catastrophe of living is so mysterious and unknowable. We’re hurdling through space, stuck to this planet by gravity. We’re not who we think we are. We don’t know what’s happening. So we make these songs to sing to each other. We make these sounds that both reassure us and urge us on, they help us sleep and help us wake up.