Poetry

Where can poetry be found? Can poetry be more than the written word? When first asked this question, the first thing that came to my mind is art. Art for me is poetry. The story behind the painting is poetic. The way the colors meet and create a story is poetic. When I look at a piece of art, I automatically want to know the treasure that is captured on canvas, but also the story of the artist and why he painted what he did.

So what is poetry? In the Merriam-Webster dictionary it says that one of the definitions of poetry is "something likened to poetry especially in beauty of expressions. Poetry is something that brings out a feeling. It causes you to feel inspired. This is exactly what art does for me. If we look at an actual poem you can't just read it. If you do that you will usually receive just the bareness of the words. But the second you dive into them and analyze what the author is saying and look at the time it was written, a whole world is opened up to you. If you just look at a piece of art, you sometimes don't get anything from it. The second you dive into the background of the piece, you make a connection with the painting and its story. One of my favorite paintings is called The Taking of Christ by Caravaggio. Its a dramatic painting of Christ being taken away right before he is to be nailed to the cross. By itself it is an incredibly moving and powerful painting. I read an entire book just about this one painting and finally got to see it in person this summer in Dublin. The second I saw it, my connection with the painting was heightened. I couldn't turn away from it. Was my reaction and connection the same as the 30 some people around me? Is it okay for me to find poetry in that one piece of art and not for someone else?

If Poetry is meant to inspire, everyone is going to feel different about it. Just like some people love a certain musician or book, and I absolutely do not, doesn't mean that we don't know what a good song or book is. Poetry is subjective just like most things in this world. Isn't that the beauty of it then? If you truly look at what you love and hate, thats what makes you you. You are poetry! You feel and inspire yourself and others around you!  You may not rhyme, or talk in verse, but everything about us is poetic. Just like art has a story, we have stories.

Now this just got deep, but truly everything around us is poetry. If you ask what makes something poetic, every single person is going to have a different answer and opinion. So if we look around us and find something that is "likened to poetry especially in beauty of expression", we can have thousands of little things that are poetic everyday. 

What Teaches and Delights?

What teaches and delights? Can reading both teach and delight? There is a special moment when a reader connects with a book. The words pour into not just your heart, but your brain. They stick with you not just a day but for years. For me reading is a true delight. If I could just sit and read forever I would be perfectly happy! One of the things I enjoy most about reading is the fact that it does teach us. I learn more about life, living vicariously through heroes, damsels, assassins, rulers, and even hobbits, then I sometimes do going to class. We get to experience, even if its through words, the world and how different people handle different events that can come upon them. Why is this?

There is a direct link to what delights us to what teaches us. If we love something we are more likely to watch, study, and learn everything about the thing that interests us. If you love a certain TV show, do you tend to know random facts about how it was made, or how the whole show came to be? I know I do! Another example is my love of art. I love art! Studying art history fascinates me and I have watched videos and read books about paintings that truly fascinate me. Just like reading, art can allow you to see the world as another person perceives it. No two people view the world the same way. By reading and viewing art pieces, we get to see, if just for a moment in time, how one persons see the world. This teaches us hands on.

There is another side to this. What about guilty pleasures? These are not necessarily educational  things like art or reading. They could be a TV show, cooking, even sleeping. Do these teach and delight? They sure do delight. Thats why they are guilty pleasures!  What about teaching? Does all teachings have to be about liberal arts, such as science, math, and english? What makes guilty pleasures, guilty pleasures? These things usually make us happy. I think discovering and engaging in our guilty pleasures teaches us something. Sure its not math, but it teaches you about you. You get to see what makes you happy and you get to analyze why it makes you happy.

So what teaches and delights? For me, the more we learn about who we are and this amazing world we live in, is what teaches the most and what makes us the most happy. I think sometimes, as humans, we focus so much on what doesn't matter. We are more connected to wi-fi and what celebrities are eating for dinner, then we are to who we are. Im not saying that social media is bad (trust me, its one of my guilty pleasures), but maybe we need to take a step back and truly look at what we can learn about the world we live in and our selves, instead of the everyone else around us. The more you do things that enlighten and teach you, the happier you will be.