After analyzing the problems with modern society and outlining how western civilization fell into decline, Richard M. Weaver in Ideas Have Consequences suggests some solutions to recovering what has been lost, the first of which involves the surprising idea of teaching poetry. His theory is that one of our major issues is the corruption of language, where words are being used to manipulate (propaganda) or meanings are being deliberately changed via obfuscation (look it up 
). Weaver says, “In brief, the discipline of poetry may be expected first to teach the evocative power of words, to introduce the student, if we may so put it, to the mighty power of symbolism, and then to show him that there are ways of feeling about things which are not provincial either in space or time. Poetry offers the fairest hope of restoring our lost unity of mind.”
T.M. Moore has a similar thesis in this article which shows how poetry can be subversive. He encourages Christians to use the weapon of words via poetry to fight the culture war and remind people of the power those carefully-constructed poems can have on the conscience of a society:
As part of this more vital role, poetry has at times been a subversive force in society, wielding power and influence that have threatened political regimes and stood long-accepted worldviews on their heads. The reasons for this are not hard to understand: the easily remembered nature of publicly-recited verse, the affective power of rhythm and meter, the intellectual force of such poetic devices as irony, sarcasm, and hyperbole, and the sheer delight of story and sound combined by creative genius into compelling verse.Â
Moore mentions some Christian poets, including Czeslaw Milosz, an expatriate Czech who suffered in his youth during World War II. Here is one of his poems (click on the link to hear it in his own voice):
When everything was fine
And the notion of sin had vanished
And the earth was ready
In universal peace
To consume and rejoice
Without creeds and utopias,
I, for unknown reasons,
Surrounded by the books
Of prophets and theologians,
Of philosophers, poets,
Searched for an answer,
Scowling, grimacing,
Waking up at night, muttering at dawn.
What oppressed me so much
Was a bit shameful.
Talking of it aloud
Would show neither tact nor prudence.
It might even seem an outrage
Against the health of mankind.
Alas, my memory
Does not want to leave me
And in it, live beings
Each with its own pain,
Each with its own dying,
Its own trepidation.
Why then innocence
On paradisal beaches,
An impeccable sky
Over the church of hygiene?
Is it because that
Was long ago?
To a saintly man
–So goes an Arab tale–
God said somewhat maliciously:
“Had I revealed to people
How great a sinner you are,
They could not praise you.”
“And I,” answered the pious one,
“Had I unveiled to them
How merciful you are,
They would not care for you.”
To whom should I turn
With that affair so dark
Of pain and also guilt
In the structure of the world,
If either here below
Or over there on high
No power can abolish
The cause and the effect?
Don’t think, don’t remember
The death on the cross,
Though everyday He dies,
The only one, all-loving,
Who without any need
Consented and allowed
To exist all that is,
Including nails of torture.
Totally enigmatic.
Impossibly intricate.
Better to stop speech here.
This language is not for people.
Blessed be jubilation.
Vintages and harvests.
Even if not everyone
Is granted serenity.
If that one was a bit tough to understand, try this poem by Donald Grady Davidson, about Robert E. Lee, Lee in the Mountains.
Those who are still with me may be interested in this essay by Dana Gioia, originally published in The Atlantic Monthly, called Can Poetry Matter? Gioia is also considered a Christian poet, and he is a promoter of the “new traditionalism,” a resurgence of meter in rhyme in poetry.
If you are still awake, I would love to know what some of your favorite poems are. Feel free to post the entire poem in the comments, or give a link. Let’s see if we can do our part to recapture both the magic and the meaning of words to God’s glory, representing His truth and beauty, especially teaching our children to appreciate metaphor and imagery.
