Sabrina Ho--poetry

      In the discussion on poetry, we discussed how poetry builds the world; it makes the difference between "living" and "dwelling" on earth. We can view poetry as a way of making meaning of the world. I am guilty of basing a lot of my personality on the film, Dead Poets Society. Anyone who has watched the film likely knows this famous quote said by the character Professor Keatings: "We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love--these are what we stay alive for." I immediately thought of this quote when upon our discussion, because it perfectly sums up the same idea. To add onto this, the character is based off the famous romantics poet, John Keats. In the movie, he does exactly what we discussed: he introduces poetry, and helps these students making meaning of the world. 

    As an avid reader of poetry, this quote has always resonated with me. Just as we discussed in class, I feel that poetry has this innate, unique ability to paint the world in a particular lens that nothing else can quite replicate. I think reading poetry is a good first step towards viewing nature and the world in non-materialistic, non-egotistical ways, but instead as a way to find where we stand with every other living thing on earth.