Introduction
An Education by Metaphor
“Poetry is all that is worth remembering in life.”
- William Hazlitt
- William Hazlitt
Poems for Vitality is a collection of some of the most beautiful poems written by some of the greatest poets of all time. It is a collection meant for one purpose: to make poetry more accessible to those who are not accustomed to reading poetry. It is an entryway into the world of poetry. In an effort to make it less daunting, this collection contains almost exclusively short poems. The poems were carefully selected not for their value in the history of poetry and not for their value as an education in literature, but for their beauty, imagery, and ease of reading.
Poems for Vitality is purposefully short. This is to encourage the reader to undertake multiple readings of each poem. The beauty of poetry is not revealed by devouring many poems, but in the savoring of a few of them. The poems collected here were selected for their universal appeal and for their ability to stand against multiple readings.
Poetry is beautiful. It may well be Beauty herself speaking to us. Reading poetry makes life more beautiful. There is something mystically powerful in poetry that can only be experienced by delving into it. No words can describe it, except perhaps the words of a great poem. I will certainly not try to describe it here, instead allowing the poems to speak for themselves.
Poetry contains some of the greatest literature ever written. The poems contained in this collection are quite simply some of the greatest works of art that have ever been created. Poetry is also entertaining. The stories and images that are contained in these poems are tremendous. Once experienced, they will remain with you for the rest of your life.
Our modern world has the tendency to take things literally. To each thing is given one and only one meaning. All mysteries are to be solved. Life is scientifically and concretely defined.
Our modern literalism and the loss of imagination with which it comes is the great enemy of our time, and only poetry can overcome it. Poetry teaches us to hear metaphorically so that we do not fall for bad metaphors, and so that we do not take everything literally. Poetry awakens our imaginations. Jesus spoke and taught in metaphors and parables because truth cannot be taken only literally. All great teachings are mysterious because all great things are mysteries. To the concrete, literal mind, mysteries are enemies, but to ears that can hear, mysteries are profound. They are the very stuff of life.
Poetry is the very essence of metaphor. Nothing in a poem has only one meaning. There are levels to any great poem that are beyond even the poet who wrote it. Simply by reading poems, we gain ears that can hear metaphorically. Novalis said, “Poetry heals the wounds inflicted by reason.” It brings us out of the dead concrete of literal single-mindedness. Robert Frost called it Education by Poetry, and that’s exactly what this collection of poems intends.
By reading these poems you will be educated by poetry. The poems will ingrain metaphorical language into your soul, making this world a better and safer place for both body and soul. For when the world is taken only literally, beauty and soul are lost.
-----
Lines Written in Early Spring
William Wordsworth
I heard a thousand blended notes,
While in a grove I sate reclined,
In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts
Bring sad thoughts to the mind.
To her fair works did Nature link
The human soul that through me ran;
And much it grieved my heart to think
What man has made of man.
Through primrose tufts, in that green bower,
The periwinkle trailed its wreaths;
And ‘tis my faith that every flower
Enjoys the air it breathes.
The birds around me hopped and played,
Their thoughts I cannot measure:-
But the least motion which they made
It seemed a thrill of pleasure.
The budding twigs spread out their fan,
To catch the breezy air;
And I must think, do all I can,
That there was pleasure there.
If this belief from heaven be sent,
If such be Nature’s holy plan,
Have I not reason to lament
What man has made of man?
-----
Here Wordsworth laments what the modern, dead, literal, unimaginative mind has made of humanity and of life. But he also describes how the metaphorical, poetic eyes and ears perceive the world - as alive and pulsating! There is vitality in the world, but only if one can see it. Education by Poetry brings the world to life, and brings life to the world. It ensouls the world! Notice how even the flowers delight in the breathing of air; how even the twigs take pleasure in spreading into the breeze.
The poems in this collection are full of vitality. They make us and the world come alive simply by reading them. They work on us even without us knowing that they do so. They seep past our reasoning, conscious minds. They flow through the concrete, literal shells we moderns have become, and bring living water to our souls.
The brilliant psychologist James Hillman, in his book Alchemical Psychology, said that all literature is interchangeable with psychology. One of the recurring themes of his work was “... to exhibit again the connection between psychology and literature, to suggest their interchangeability” (p78). Poetry expands our experience of life. It takes us into the wonderful, bounteous places of life, and also into the darkest, saddest areas. It takes us into melancholy, and it lifts us back out. It can bring us anger, and it can make us drunk. The Sufi’s, a mystical sect of Islam, get drunk on their poetry. Poetry doesn’t just give us permission to fully live, it takes us into all parts of our souls. It moves the soul. It lets the soul live. It may even create our souls. In this modern world of literalism, devoid of enough room for allegory and metaphor, we cannot truly live all of life. Poetry corrects this.
An idea I cannot help but share, even though it is excessively messianic and ridiculously hopeful, is that poetry can change our world. Poetry seeps through us and changes us.
Of all the collections of poems from which to choose, Poems for Vitality should be your place to start. These poems were selected for a number of reasons. First of all, they are all masterworks by master poets. There is not a single wasted poem in this collection. You can rest assured that you are only reading the greatest of poems when you read a poem from this collection.
Secondly, these are almost exclusively short poems, which makes Poems for Vitality an easy read. The collection is purposefully undaunting. The exceptions to this rule are a few longer poems saved for the end of the collection. In addition, each of the poems in this collection are easily enjoyed by those who have little or no experience with poetry. You require absolutely no knowledge of poetry to enjoy every poem in this collection. These poems are enjoyable on the surface. They can be taken at face value. Another reason to choose Poems for Vitality is that these poems have been specifically selected for their ability to provide an education by metaphor. Each and every poem in this collection is an Education by Poetry.
Read a poem as you would read anything else. A sentence in a poem is just like a sentence in prose. Read a sentence of a poem as you would read any normal sentence, pausing appropriately for punctuation. You will naturally pause slightly at the end of each line, but don’t do this on purpose. Allow it to happen naturally as you read. Don’t worry about rhyme, rhythm, or meter. Just read it as it is. The poet and the poem have already done all of the work for you. Poems are simply meant to be read. Just read and enjoy.
Even more so, poems are meant to be read aloud. The sound of the poem is part of its beauty. A poem cannot be truly appreciated without speaking it and hearing it. Just read aloud and enjoy.
Work your way through this collection slowly. Remember that these are masterworks by master poets. They deserve a lot of respect. Rushing through a poem and finding nothing of interest, and then quickly moving to the next poem is not acceptable. It may take a month of reading, rereading, and reverie with a poem before it is finished with you (or finished with you for now). If a poem doesn't touch you, if it doesn't seem worth rereading and reflecting upon, then stop yourself for a moment. Remember that these are not just any-old poems you are reading. These are some of the most beautiful works of art that have ever been made. Perhaps a rereading or two is in order.
It’s best to read only one poem a day at most. Some of these poems are worth at least a week of your time. Read a poem and then reread it. Come back to it in the evening and read it again. Give these poems the respect they deserve.
Memorize any lines or complete poems that touch you, but don’t make memorization a chore. Just read the poem and recite it so many times that you begin to quote it. Some of the lines are so striking that you will find them swimming into your thoughts. If you catch yourself drifting off during the day, caught by an image from a poem you have read, then you know your education by metaphor is well underway.
I have organized this book mostly by intuition. Each poem seemed to call for the next. I saved the longer poems for the end so that readers would not get bogged down with the longer poems. Otherwise, the poems are arranged in no logical order whatsoever.
I have purposefully included no biographical information or other extraneous information about the poems or the poets. Extra information only detracts from the poems themselves. It is the poem that counts, not the poet or the circumstances that supposedly led to the writing of the poem. Try to avoid learning about a poet until you’ve lived with his or her poems for awhile. Enjoy the art before getting to know the artist. Extra information only leads to a more literal reading of a poem. It’s like going to the zoo and spending all of your time reading the little informational signs about the animals instead of watching the animals themselves. It’s the animal itself that counts! And it’s to the poems that we should be attending!
A collection of poetry collected by a physiotherapist may seem an oddity. But there is more sense in this than appears at first glance. As a physiotherapist, it is my duty to defend the body, and the body is being destroyed by literalism. Simply put, our bodies are being destroyed by lack of poetry. The body must be read both literally and poetically if there is to be a real therapy for the body. Our modern imaginations are so defunct that our souls have had to fall into our bodies, aching and crying out for attention. The only way to tend the body is to tend the soul, and the soul demands poetry.
Now to the poems.
Poems for Vitality is purposefully short. This is to encourage the reader to undertake multiple readings of each poem. The beauty of poetry is not revealed by devouring many poems, but in the savoring of a few of them. The poems collected here were selected for their universal appeal and for their ability to stand against multiple readings.
Poetry is beautiful. It may well be Beauty herself speaking to us. Reading poetry makes life more beautiful. There is something mystically powerful in poetry that can only be experienced by delving into it. No words can describe it, except perhaps the words of a great poem. I will certainly not try to describe it here, instead allowing the poems to speak for themselves.
Poetry contains some of the greatest literature ever written. The poems contained in this collection are quite simply some of the greatest works of art that have ever been created. Poetry is also entertaining. The stories and images that are contained in these poems are tremendous. Once experienced, they will remain with you for the rest of your life.
Our modern world has the tendency to take things literally. To each thing is given one and only one meaning. All mysteries are to be solved. Life is scientifically and concretely defined.
Our modern literalism and the loss of imagination with which it comes is the great enemy of our time, and only poetry can overcome it. Poetry teaches us to hear metaphorically so that we do not fall for bad metaphors, and so that we do not take everything literally. Poetry awakens our imaginations. Jesus spoke and taught in metaphors and parables because truth cannot be taken only literally. All great teachings are mysterious because all great things are mysteries. To the concrete, literal mind, mysteries are enemies, but to ears that can hear, mysteries are profound. They are the very stuff of life.
Poetry is the very essence of metaphor. Nothing in a poem has only one meaning. There are levels to any great poem that are beyond even the poet who wrote it. Simply by reading poems, we gain ears that can hear metaphorically. Novalis said, “Poetry heals the wounds inflicted by reason.” It brings us out of the dead concrete of literal single-mindedness. Robert Frost called it Education by Poetry, and that’s exactly what this collection of poems intends.
By reading these poems you will be educated by poetry. The poems will ingrain metaphorical language into your soul, making this world a better and safer place for both body and soul. For when the world is taken only literally, beauty and soul are lost.
-----
Lines Written in Early Spring
William Wordsworth
I heard a thousand blended notes,
While in a grove I sate reclined,
In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts
Bring sad thoughts to the mind.
To her fair works did Nature link
The human soul that through me ran;
And much it grieved my heart to think
What man has made of man.
Through primrose tufts, in that green bower,
The periwinkle trailed its wreaths;
And ‘tis my faith that every flower
Enjoys the air it breathes.
The birds around me hopped and played,
Their thoughts I cannot measure:-
But the least motion which they made
It seemed a thrill of pleasure.
The budding twigs spread out their fan,
To catch the breezy air;
And I must think, do all I can,
That there was pleasure there.
If this belief from heaven be sent,
If such be Nature’s holy plan,
Have I not reason to lament
What man has made of man?
-----
Here Wordsworth laments what the modern, dead, literal, unimaginative mind has made of humanity and of life. But he also describes how the metaphorical, poetic eyes and ears perceive the world - as alive and pulsating! There is vitality in the world, but only if one can see it. Education by Poetry brings the world to life, and brings life to the world. It ensouls the world! Notice how even the flowers delight in the breathing of air; how even the twigs take pleasure in spreading into the breeze.
The poems in this collection are full of vitality. They make us and the world come alive simply by reading them. They work on us even without us knowing that they do so. They seep past our reasoning, conscious minds. They flow through the concrete, literal shells we moderns have become, and bring living water to our souls.
The brilliant psychologist James Hillman, in his book Alchemical Psychology, said that all literature is interchangeable with psychology. One of the recurring themes of his work was “... to exhibit again the connection between psychology and literature, to suggest their interchangeability” (p78). Poetry expands our experience of life. It takes us into the wonderful, bounteous places of life, and also into the darkest, saddest areas. It takes us into melancholy, and it lifts us back out. It can bring us anger, and it can make us drunk. The Sufi’s, a mystical sect of Islam, get drunk on their poetry. Poetry doesn’t just give us permission to fully live, it takes us into all parts of our souls. It moves the soul. It lets the soul live. It may even create our souls. In this modern world of literalism, devoid of enough room for allegory and metaphor, we cannot truly live all of life. Poetry corrects this.
An idea I cannot help but share, even though it is excessively messianic and ridiculously hopeful, is that poetry can change our world. Poetry seeps through us and changes us.
Of all the collections of poems from which to choose, Poems for Vitality should be your place to start. These poems were selected for a number of reasons. First of all, they are all masterworks by master poets. There is not a single wasted poem in this collection. You can rest assured that you are only reading the greatest of poems when you read a poem from this collection.
Secondly, these are almost exclusively short poems, which makes Poems for Vitality an easy read. The collection is purposefully undaunting. The exceptions to this rule are a few longer poems saved for the end of the collection. In addition, each of the poems in this collection are easily enjoyed by those who have little or no experience with poetry. You require absolutely no knowledge of poetry to enjoy every poem in this collection. These poems are enjoyable on the surface. They can be taken at face value. Another reason to choose Poems for Vitality is that these poems have been specifically selected for their ability to provide an education by metaphor. Each and every poem in this collection is an Education by Poetry.
Read a poem as you would read anything else. A sentence in a poem is just like a sentence in prose. Read a sentence of a poem as you would read any normal sentence, pausing appropriately for punctuation. You will naturally pause slightly at the end of each line, but don’t do this on purpose. Allow it to happen naturally as you read. Don’t worry about rhyme, rhythm, or meter. Just read it as it is. The poet and the poem have already done all of the work for you. Poems are simply meant to be read. Just read and enjoy.
Even more so, poems are meant to be read aloud. The sound of the poem is part of its beauty. A poem cannot be truly appreciated without speaking it and hearing it. Just read aloud and enjoy.
Work your way through this collection slowly. Remember that these are masterworks by master poets. They deserve a lot of respect. Rushing through a poem and finding nothing of interest, and then quickly moving to the next poem is not acceptable. It may take a month of reading, rereading, and reverie with a poem before it is finished with you (or finished with you for now). If a poem doesn't touch you, if it doesn't seem worth rereading and reflecting upon, then stop yourself for a moment. Remember that these are not just any-old poems you are reading. These are some of the most beautiful works of art that have ever been made. Perhaps a rereading or two is in order.
It’s best to read only one poem a day at most. Some of these poems are worth at least a week of your time. Read a poem and then reread it. Come back to it in the evening and read it again. Give these poems the respect they deserve.
Memorize any lines or complete poems that touch you, but don’t make memorization a chore. Just read the poem and recite it so many times that you begin to quote it. Some of the lines are so striking that you will find them swimming into your thoughts. If you catch yourself drifting off during the day, caught by an image from a poem you have read, then you know your education by metaphor is well underway.
I have organized this book mostly by intuition. Each poem seemed to call for the next. I saved the longer poems for the end so that readers would not get bogged down with the longer poems. Otherwise, the poems are arranged in no logical order whatsoever.
I have purposefully included no biographical information or other extraneous information about the poems or the poets. Extra information only detracts from the poems themselves. It is the poem that counts, not the poet or the circumstances that supposedly led to the writing of the poem. Try to avoid learning about a poet until you’ve lived with his or her poems for awhile. Enjoy the art before getting to know the artist. Extra information only leads to a more literal reading of a poem. It’s like going to the zoo and spending all of your time reading the little informational signs about the animals instead of watching the animals themselves. It’s the animal itself that counts! And it’s to the poems that we should be attending!
A collection of poetry collected by a physiotherapist may seem an oddity. But there is more sense in this than appears at first glance. As a physiotherapist, it is my duty to defend the body, and the body is being destroyed by literalism. Simply put, our bodies are being destroyed by lack of poetry. The body must be read both literally and poetically if there is to be a real therapy for the body. Our modern imaginations are so defunct that our souls have had to fall into our bodies, aching and crying out for attention. The only way to tend the body is to tend the soul, and the soul demands poetry.
Now to the poems.
(Available at www.amazon.com)
