AM Inspiration: Can Poetry Save the Youth?

by Kim, August 20, 2009 at 12:07am

A few months ago, NPR had a feature on Standford professor John Feistiner: An Author Asks: 'Can Poetry Save The Earth?'. A blogger from the World Bank picked up on the challenge to find the natural world as expressed in poetry, reflecting, "I was struck, though, that I reacted most strongly to works that described species and landscapes from my homeland. Climate change will alter something more than more than economies." No clear answer to NPR's question was presented by either article, though this morning inspiration series has been trying to make the point that literature and beauty are two good gauges to help us judge our right alignment to the earth. What if the question were rephrased as, "Can poetry save the youth?"

I've always been impressed by urban poetry, hip hop freestylers, and other modern practitioners of rhyming poetry: their creative use of language reminds me of Shakespeare and his elastic use of the English language. So clearly, poetry is not dead among the young. Is there any reason to encourage poetry, whether it's freestyling or reading e.e. cummings?

Bibliotherapy is an accepted form of therapy with some research behind it. It can mean the use of self-help books for patients or the reading of fiction to increase self-awareness. What about poetry? I happened upon this curious piece of testimony about poetry therapy, presented some years back on Capitol Hill by then-President of the National Association for Poetry Therapy and other representatives from the organization. Poetry therapy, the authors argue, has special power derived from the Aristotelian concept of "katharsis" or cleansing through the release of emotion. Sound like that might be helpful for your teen? Some of the benefits of reading poetry: "to enhance self-understanding and accuracy in self-perception...[and] to increase awareness of interpersonal relationships." Further, "the process of reading and writing poetry can be seen as providing an acceptable outlet for venting potentially explosive psychic forces and restoring psychological and physiological balance."

Literature can take on a role as a spiritual, moral, and interpersonal compass....so, my answer to NPR's question would be, yes, poetry can be part of the solution in creating a more reflective and attuned world. The entire collection of testimony has numerous citations that help make poetry--including this blog's daily selections- seem more officially virtuous, so it's well worth a read.

The NPR article included a couple selections of poetry, including this poignant piece by El'Jay Johnson, age 8.