Poetry: The Sword-Pen
This weapon scatters its enemies with ease and elegance, but it is not made of wood, metal, or stone. Coincidentally, it appeared in at least three of my 5th and 6th grade literature books last year: The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald, The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, and A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’engle. The weapon in question? Poetry. In the stories mentioned above, the protagonists recite a few lines of rhyme and meter to cripple darkness. As a class, we wondered why poetry was used as a weapon and what this means about poetry in the real world.
In The Princess and the Goblin, George MacDonald illustrates why poetry is such a useful weapon. Although the story’s goblins have previously stayed to themselves, they are planning an attack on the peaceful kingdom above their caves. Curdie, a miner boy who occasionally meets goblins in the mines, has discovered a sure defense against the goblins: poetry. As soon as Curdie spouts lines of rhyme and meter, goblins scatter in every direction like cockroaches running from light. Poetry revolts and terrifies the goblins. However, there is not much skill or depth to Curdie’s poetry:
Ring! dod! Bang! Go the hammers’ clang!
Hit and turn and bore! Whizz and puff and roar!
Thus we rive the rocks, Force the goblin locks.
Why does this simple, crude poetry send the goblins scattering like roaches? Goblins are children of darkness. They live in caves and hate the sun. They are ugly themselves, and they revel in ugliness. Therefore, they hate anything truly good and beautiful, and, even in Curdie’s crude poetry, there is beauty and goodness in the form: the trochees, the rhyme, the alliteration, and the assonance. There is even a kind of beauty to the roughness, abruptness, and excitement of it, all characteristic of boyishness. This poem is no masterpiece; it is characteristic of what any young boy with a little poetic knowledge might write. But even in these simple lines there is power in its beauty, and this beauty is a light from which the darkness scatters.
Poetry is similarly used in A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle. In this story three children, Meg, Calvin, and Charles Wallace, embark to rescue their father from IT, an evil being who wants to “relieve” the world from “all the burdens of thought and decision,” leaving them slaves to his will. IT tries to hypnotize the children by quoting the multiplication table. Once you know the multiplication table by heart, you can recite it without actively thinking. Your mouth can work nearly independently of your brain and your mind can become passive, taking in whatever thoughts and ideas are most potent. This state of mind is exactly what IT desires. He plans to use this passive state to instill his own thoughts and will until he gains enough power to permanently control the childrens’ entire being. Therefore, passivity of mind is the real danger from which poetry protects the children.
Charles Wallace and Calvin fight IT by reciting nursery rhymes and Shakespeare, disrupting the mechanical recitation of the multiplication table with the beauty and originality of verse. Poetry renders IT powerless momentarily because poetry banishes passivity of the mind. To be fully enjoyed and understood, poetry must be read and contemplated repeatedly. Many of the best poems are like puzzles, containing clues and layered meaning, references to other stories and poetry, and intricate rhyme and meter. Much if not most of the beauty and truth contained in poetry is missed if the reader does not give himself time to explore it. By reciting poetry, Calvin and Charles Wallace defend the power to think for themselves rather than allowing IT to think for them.
After recovering from the attack of poetry, however, IT turns poetry against the children. Poetry too becomes rote and mechanical if read without contemplation. Therefore, as we engage in poetry, we should be careful to engage in it thoughtfully, not allowing it to become a space for passivity, a space for evil to take hold. Much like IT, the evil parts of our culture pressure us to conform to its own values and beliefs. Like the children in A Wrinkle in Time, reading and writing poetry thoughtfully can be used to defend and sharpen our ability to think and discover truth, goodness, and beauty.
As poetry sharpens our minds it can also soften our discomforts as The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame illustrates. Mole and Ratty, the protagonists of these stories, live on the riverbank and spend their days mostly boating and picnicking. Throughout the book, one of Ratty’s defining traits is his love of and pride in the river on which he lives and insists that he lives the best lifestyle. However, as autumn arrives, Ratty grows discontent. He mourns the end of summer and is offended and hurt by the birds’ mysterious and undeniable urge to leave the river for a season. In this state of mind, Ratty meets a cheerful and fascinating rat, a sailor who lives on the sea and who sings seductive tales of adventure far surpassing any excitement Ratty could experience on his little river. Ratty’s eyes glaze over like “the eyes of some other animal” as he listens to the stories. Although Ratty belongs on the river as much as the birds belong to a nomadic lifestyle, in his trance Ratty packs his bags to join this sailor rat on the sea. As he packs, Mole arrives and is distressed to find his friend in a trance and deaf to his pleas to remain, Mole decides his only option is to sit on Ratty until Ratty is freed from the trance. Mole succeeds, but Ratty’s despair is greater than ever. Ratty dejectedly listens to Mole’s soliloquy on the pleasures of life on the river in its current season until the typically unpoetical Mole becomes “simply lyrical.” As Mole orates, Ratty grows less and less dejected. After leaving Ratty to himself for a while, Mole returns to find him scribbling away at poetry, a favorite hobby. Ratty is cured.
Poetry successfully cures Ratty because creating and reflecting on poetry can cultivate gratitude and offer comfort in the same way that many occupations can. It demands full attention from the mind to the puzzle of rhyme and meter and the beauty and truth of word choice and subject. As your attention and energy is absorbed your troubles often fade, if not wholly, in part. Additionally, poetry uniquely emphasizes the beautiful, the unique, and the absurd in the mundane, which cultivates appreciation for what was previously taken for granted. Endeavoring to develop my writing skills as a child, I remember trying to describe the branches of a tree I had previously barely noticed. My observation of the tree and my attempt to describe it gave me a new appreciation for not only its own grandness and beauty but the beauty of all trees. Whether reading or writing it, poetry challenges you to think of the ordinary in new ways, which can instill a greater appreciation, gratitude, and interest in that subject. Poetry can allow people to see the world with the novelty and beauty of its original creation.
Most admit the value of reading, but the value of reading and writing poetry is underappreciated. Poetry is the purest, most beautiful form of literature because every word is carefully chosen; every sentence is written and rewritten and rewritten. The richness of poetry is invaluable to one who desires to become a healthy, well-rounded truth seeker, who can defend himself against darkness.
Katelyn Lape,
5th/6th Grade Teacher
