The Power of Poetry and Symbolism

A symbol is a true representation of a thing, and stands in the thing’s place.  Just as a one can be tempted to take out bad news on the messenger, so too do we often react to symbols as we would toward what they represent. The emotions and associations that a person has when he hears, say, the word “sunset,” can be the same as he has when he sees an actual sunset, though often the emotions are, understandably, not as powerful.

Often times, a word turns into a cliche, and ceases to have the power to stand in for the reality it represents.  A person can hear the word “sunset” and not think of an actual sunset.  This can be because he has heard the word so many times that it has lost meaning for him, or it can be because the word is used by the speaker in an uninspiring context, or it can simply be a lack of effort in the listener.

It is the poet’s job to revivify words, to bring them back to their original meaning for the reader and listener.  He must use words within a new and beautiful context, so that the reader once more encounters reality through the symbol that is the word, and encounters the word itself. 

Poetry, and this can be said about fine art in general, is the use of symbol to encounter reality and then symbol.  For poetry to remain poetry, however, emphasis must be placed on the encounter with reality first, then on symbol.  The more reality is ignored for symbol, as happens in modern art, the less symbol remains itself, because symbol is the true representation of a thing.  The less symbol represents something outside itself, the less it is a symbol, and the less it is poetry or fine art.

Poetry shapes the way people interact, because it shapes their understanding of the words they use.  Love comes about through word and deed.  Poetry shapes the words used for love, and shapes the way a person receives and gives love through words.  Without poetry, the person can be stuck in a world of cliches, of dead words, and no word given to him by another can make him aware that he is loved.  Nor will any word he uses be a sincere expression of his own love.  When poetry is doing its job, it is furrowing the soil of the heart to make it ready for love.