Harold Bloom has some fascinating things to say

So the book of poetry that I posted about. before—The Best Poems of the English Language—has an essay at the beginning by Harold Bloom (who also selected and wrote commentary on the poets and poems in the volume. The essay at the beginning is called “The Art of Reading Poetry” has a lot of interesting statements in it. This one is the first one that struck me: “There is a benign haunting in poetic tradition, one that transcends the sorrows of influence, particularly the new poet’s fear that there is little left for her or him to do. In truth, there is everything remaining to be thought and sung, provided an individual voice is attained.” That is a hopeful statement for any aspiring poet—keep writing and find your individual voice!

There are a number of other statements that I liked, but I will share the one that basically closes the essay, since it explains why we should read poetry. In the final section of his essay, Bloom writes, “I think that poetry at its greatest—in Dante, Shakespeare, Donne, Milton, Blake—has one broad and essential difficulty: it is the true mode for expanding our consciousness.” That’s quite a statement! He wraps us the whole essay with a continuation of the idea. He starts the final paragraph with, “The work of great poetry is to aid us to become free artists of ourselves.” And then ends the essay with this thought: “The art of reading poetry is an authentic training in the augmentation of conciousness, perhaps the most authentic of healthy modes.”

I can’t say it any better than that! Read poetry because it will expand your consciousness. Maybe it could help you understand where someone else is coming from, or just help you accept that not everyone thinks the way you do. Maybe poetry can help heal some of the divides we find in our lives. It’s worth a try, right?

So read some Shakespeare or some Dickinson or some Ted Kooser or Billy Collins. After all, it’s not going to hurt you.