"A poem is not a puzzle that you the dutiful reader are obliged to solve. It is meant to poke you, get you to buck up, pay attention, rise and shine, look alive, get a grip, get the picture, pull up your socks, wake up and die right."
I think this description hits the nail on the head. Poetry has become to so many people that boring thing they had to study in school, or that thing they just don't get. It's true that a lot of poetry is lofty and inaccessible, and it has its place, but there is so much powerful, beautiful, heart breaking, fist pounding poetry that makes you yell, "Yes! That is how it is!" Does that phrase sound familiar? It should, it's in the quote at the top of my blog, which is precisely what Keillor is saying here. Poetry is one of the most pure forms of communication. Its beauty lies in the fact that a reader from another place and even another time can pick up a poem and read it and feel the connection of humanity. This is its purpose, and it's a shame that has gotten lost in academic speak and post-modern criticism. Don't worry, though, there is good stuff out there, you just have to find it.
Hey man, we miss you. We'll be in town over Thanksgiving--let's get together. We won't have a car, so you may have to come to Cumming to hang out with us.
ReplyDeleteI agree about poetry (and music is much the same way). It has the capacity to push truths past our mind into our hearts in a way that prose simply does not.
An illustration: a couple of weekends ago a friend of mine up here in Cambridge had a party. Actually, it was a beer fest, with lots of really expensive, high alcohol content beers. So, I got drunk at the party, and there were a lot of unbelievers around, and I felt absolutely horrible about everything I did and said that night. I was talking about spiritual things with unbelievers while completely loaded. The next morning (Sunday) I was at church, feeling terrible and hungover, and what's worse, I began realizing the depth of my intellectual arrogance.
I began to think that maybe I was not in the kingdom. That God the just judge was communicating his condemnation to me because of my actions and interior dispositions. That the gospel, that there is reconciliation through Christ to God the just judge who then becomes our father, was true, but that it could not be applied to me, since I continued to sin and cast aspersions on the righteousness of God by my life.
But then we sang this song in church:
Before the Throne of God Above
Written by: Charitie Lees Bancroft, Vikki Cook
Before the throne of God above,
I have a strong, a perfect plea,
A great High Priest whose name is "Love,"
Who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on His hands,
My name is written on His heart;
I know that while in heav'n He stands
no tongue can bid me thence depart.
No tongue can bid me thence depart.
When Satan tempts me to despair,
and tells me of the guilt within,
upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end to all my sin.
Because the sinless Saviour died,
my sinful soul is counted free;
For God, the Just, is satisfied
to look on him and pardon me.
to look on him and pardon me.
Behold him there! the risen Lamb,
my perfect, spotless Righteousness,
the great unchangeable I AM,
the King of glory and of grace!
One with Himself I cannot die,
My soul is purchased by His blood;
My life is hid with Christ on high,
with Christ, my Saviour and my God
with Christ, my Saviour and my God.
What beautiful, sweet, saving truth! The gospel is a miracle beyond all reckoning, beyond all comprehension. And it was poetry that communicated its sweetness to me. Amen.
Hey Jonathan, I miss you guys too. Thanks for the great comment, which further illustrates my point.
ReplyDeleteIt also illustrates the point of the perfect love of Christ: you are shown your heart and then offered redemption.
Thank you for the story. I look forward to seeing you guys over Thanksgiving.