By the bye, that bumper sticker about poetry that I mentioned the other day got me thinking about the influence of poetry even in today's not-so-romantic world.
I've concluded that while it's obviously not the glory days of poetry, the stuff is unavoidable ne'ertheless.
If it weren't for poetry, we wouldn't have memorable jingles from TV and radio ads, sappy but helpful Hallmark cards, pop music, nursery rhymes, Christmas carols, hopscotch and jump-rope jingles, lovely onomatopoeia inscribed on sentimental paintings, and on and on. Poetry — and perhaps more to the point, poetical prose and music — truly is necessary, for without it — or at the very least, without its influence — language would be limited to utility.
So thank man for poetry!
And while I'm on the subject, let me just extol the wonders of having Objectivist friends. During one of our recent socials, we spent a few minutes revelling in a favorite poem or two. Mind you, these readings were not scripted or planned. Someone just said, "Oh, you've got to hear this poem! It's my all-time favorite!" And then to sit at the feet of someone reading Tennyson tearfully! That's the kind of treatment poetry deserves.
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