Does Poetry Make Anything Happen?

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Originally Posted by Theunderground

It can and does move peoples emotions. what more do you want from art?

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Rather than merely validating "peoples emotions" {sic} as if they were parking tickets, I do want more, for starters:

--invent, reinvent, transform, "charge" language

--stimulate the intellect

--force me to look at the world in an entirely new way

--challenge my prejudices and that of the status quo

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Originally Posted by Ecurb

I've been able to recite "To His Coy Mistress" by heart for several decades now, and I can assure you that your friend is lying to you.

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Well, I tried it a coupla times and it worked for me more often than not.

(This was several birthdays back, admittedly. Also, as you mention it - and besides Austen - Beethoven, Coward, Arthur C Clarke, Kandinsksy, one of the beardy ones in ZZTop and an Abba guy who may or may not have had a beard.)

All those items you want from poetry like changing the status quo etc, start from first moving the emotions. Or do you want to change things feeling cold and uninspired?