Evidence
‘A great deal of anecdotal evidence suggests that we respond positively to birdsong.’
– Scientific researcher quoted in The Daily Telegraph 8.2.2012
Centuries of English verse
Suggest the selfsame thing:
A negative response is rare
When birds are heard to sing.
What’s the use of poetry?
You ask. Well, here’s a start:
It’s anecdotal evidence
About the human heart.
–Uncollected poem, Wendy Cope 2016
Today – March 21 – is World Poetry Day.
It seems like a good day to ask oneself this question: What is the purpose of a poem?
A poem cannot feed a man. Sometimes, not even the one who wrote it.
A poem cannot teach a man fishing, carpentry, or any other life skill.
It will not cure a festering boil, a raging fever, or a throbbing pain in your temples.
So, why must human beings pull themselves inwards, into their unconscious, very much like an archer pulls his bow to propel an arrow?
Why must men and women spend so much time with the thoughts churning in their heads to create verses that rhyme with a graceful cadence or float freely, like the autumn leaves?
Why must they weave words into poems which have the power to delight or move one to tears?
The act of writing poems is a solitary enterprise. A poet is a being who is inherently introspective. They will often recede into their personal cosmos. They will spend more time with their thoughts than with you. They will appear at times elusive, at times detached, and very often downright inaccessible.
They will spend hours in rumination to channel their thoughts and emotions into a tangible stream of words, that appear on paper as a poem.
They could have spent all those hours doing something else – dusting, making a meal, doing their taxes, scrubbing the tiles, pruning the garden – tangible things of immediate benefit to themselves and those around them.
Look at it with a severe utilitarian eye and the act of creating poetry might appear as merely an act of self-indulgence, a selfish act even.
And yet, a poet has managed to hold on to his vocation since the creation of language.
At the turn of every century, professions have gone out of vogue to make way for new ones. But a poet has managed to hold his ground and his pen.
Which brings us back to the question: What is the purpose of poetry in our lives?
Poems are – as one of my favorite poets, Wendy Cope – has aptly described, the “anecdotal evidence” not only of the human heart but also of the originality of the human mind.
The expressive forms of literature such as fiction and poetry have been shown to have a therapeutic role in promoting mental wellness. There are various ways poetry can improve the psychological wellness of those who write as well as those who read or recite poems:
Give expression to difficult emotions
Poetry as a form of ‘expressive writing’ enables people to enjoy and express themselves, develop creativity and empowerment, affirm identity and give voice to views and experiences. The act of writing poetry can help people to let go of their usual pre-occupations, inhibitions, and social conventions to give expression to thoughts and emotions they find – difficult to articulate. This in a way becomes a means of emotional disclosure, a way to deal with deep-seated anxieties and difficult-to-control impulses. Writing poetry can this way become a cathartic experience. Poetry can provide a safe and constructive means to ventilate and process the emotions bottled up inside causing psychological distress.
A way to manifest the unconscious
The psychoanalytic concept of sublimation describes an unconscious mature defense mechanism of the human psyche wherein unacceptable and potentially harmful human impulses are manifested through constructive means. For example – a latent aggressive impulse may be channelized into a ‘socially appropriate pursuit’ such as participating in a high-intensity contact sport.
Poetry as a medium of expression can serve a similar purpose to express taboo feelings or impulses, otherwise repressed by the human mind to avoid anxiety. Although a subject of debate, the forbidden or suppressed nature of emotion, is what is said to lend it its creative power. Writing poetry as an act of sublimation is said to not only redirect such impulses but reduce the intrapsychic conflict associated with them.
An argument in favor of this theory is that poetry cannot be summoned at will. One cannot produce a poem; like the turning of a tap.
Rather, creating a poem is theorized to be the result of the “working out of a psychic (mental) conflict that derives from our unacceptable desires or wishes that become changed and expressed in the socially acceptable form”.
Instill a sense of calm
Most people are readers of poems, not writers. Even the recitation of poems has its unique therapeutic value. The rhythm, cadence, imagery, and evocative language used in poems can take a person’s mind away from their troubles. Individual or group sessions of reading poems can help people achieve a state of solace and relaxation, like that of meditation. It can help in relaxation, distraction, and positive visualization, all of which benefit one’s mental state.
Validation of one’s emotional state: Humanize the “human” experience
When you read a poem that reflects your mental state, it feels like finding a friend in a lonely harbor. Whatever be the circumstance – loss of a loved one, falling in love or a broken heart, a debilitating illness – sometimes a poem can speak with a voice of empathy and validation. You at that moment feel understood and the sense of empowerment that comes with that feeling can act as an anchor. It can reduce feelings of alienation and increase self-awareness.
Voice of beauty
Poems are instruments of aesthetics. Nature poems can open your eyes to the beauty of trees, birds, the sky, the space. Romantic poems will fill you with a wholesome feeling of goodness. Spiritual poems fill you with gratitude for the divine benedictions that sustain us, teach us to be humble and grounded. Poems can showcase every human virtue in a way that inspires people to achieve it.
Love, Truth, Authenticity… which in the words of the British author Julian Barnes (another personal favourite) might appear as a “clutch of capitalised intangibles” are given their true human form in poems. In poems they are not mere constructs, they live and breathe as entities that human beings can imbibe and relate to. There is no better way to understand what human virtues mean than to read a poem about them.
Call to action
Poems can be the perfect instruments to bolster motivation, to urge people to DO something. Recall any patriotic poem. The thundering rhythm of words creates a vivid image of foot soldiers charging their way through hostile territory to defend their nation. A few well-written verses can inspire valour and courage. Poems are not didactic. They do not direct people to things as in a sermon. They appeal to human emotions and therefore are so powerful in their ability to mobilise action. A poem will not TELL you to be kind, it will open your eyes to the beauty of kindness and how it touches and blesses both the giver and the receiver so that you will be moved to practice kindness yourself.
Let me end this with a love poem, for the exaltation of love –the most important and most elusive of human emotion – has been the greatest gift of poetry to mankind. Let the beauty of these words hold you in a warm embrace, and remind you of the simple acts of love and grace that we receive every day, that fill our days with moments worth living and make our life sublime 😊
Flowers
Some men never think of it.
You did. You’d come along
And say you’d nearly brought me flowers
But something had gone wrong.
The shop was closed. Or you had doubts –
The sort that minds like ours
Dream up incessantly. You thought
I might not want your flowers.
It made me smile and hug you then.
Now I can only smile.
But look, the flowers you nearly brought
Have lasted all this while.
—Wendy Cope, Serious Concerns (Faber and Faber, 1992)
References:
Mcardle, S., & Byrt, R. (2001). Fiction, poetry and mental health: expressive and therapeutic uses of literature. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 8(6), 517-524.
Kim, E., Zeppenfeld, V., & Cohen, D. (2013). Sublimation, culture, and creativity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 105(4), 639.
Freud, S. (1958). On creativity and the unconscious. New York, NY: Harper.