Thoughts on the nature of poetry

© Copyright Russel Atkinson, 2010

Though artists, architects, dancers, musicians and sculptors would no doubt object most strongly, it is my contention that poetry conveys the essence of them all. It is the supreme communication art in which all the others can be found.

Poetry has the sounds of music, the colours of paintings, the rhythms and movement of dance, the fabrications and structure of architecture and the shapes of sculpture. Nothing else can convey meaning as unequivocally as verse. A poet can express in a few sentences, ideas and truths a book is needed to explore. True poetry is the art of essence. Like sculpture, everything irrelevant is chipped away.

Poetry seeks to express the essential faculties of human nature, which reveals every aspect of human becoming as it explores the nature of the imagined, actual or beautiful. It is the expression of human thought, feeling and emotions. Every sentiment, every idea that touches the human heart and sends a thrill into it through devotion, love, awe, reverence or fear, humour, wonder, frustration, heart-rendering separation, sorrow, or the great joy of desire fulfilled after a struggle against difficulties - the expression of every one of these emotions in language is poetry. Genuine revelation of the human heart appeals to people of all ages and times however they may be separated by space or time, racial, national or a thousand prejudices.