"More and more mankind will discover that we have to turn to poetry to interpret life for us, to console us, to sustain us. Without poetry, our science will appear incomplete; and most of what now passes with us for religion and philosophy will be replaced by poetry." - Matthew Arnold
Matthew Arnold published his essay "The Study of Poetry," back in 1865. It seems that 145 years later, some things have changed similarly to this prediction, while others remain the same. Physics in particular seems to have discovered an afinity with poetry that could only have been imagined by Arnold. Some of the brightest physicists in the world can only fall back upon metaphor and allegory to explain their findings and research. The idea that science must rely as much upon preception as anything else has started to remove some of its aloofness from the arts, although it is still slow going.
Poetry as an art may be fading into the background in society, but its methods of expressing thoughts and meaning continue to be important. This is especially true as we find ways to communicate in the digital age. Poetry is the art of communicating complex and beautiful ideas and feelings in a limited amount of space. Twitter may tend to dumb down some thoughts by limiting the amount of space used to express them, but that's where the challenge comes in! With so many people writing poetry (even if the reading of it doesn't get the same attention it used to), one can't help but imagine that will eventually carry over into our everyday lives with a little effort. Maybe with a little effort, we can make Matthew Arnold's vision come true.
Matthew Arnold published his essay "The Study of Poetry," back in 1865. It seems that 145 years later, some things have changed similarly to this prediction, while others remain the same. Physics in particular seems to have discovered an afinity with poetry that could only have been imagined by Arnold. Some of the brightest physicists in the world can only fall back upon metaphor and allegory to explain their findings and research. The idea that science must rely as much upon preception as anything else has started to remove some of its aloofness from the arts, although it is still slow going.
Poetry as an art may be fading into the background in society, but its methods of expressing thoughts and meaning continue to be important. This is especially true as we find ways to communicate in the digital age. Poetry is the art of communicating complex and beautiful ideas and feelings in a limited amount of space. Twitter may tend to dumb down some thoughts by limiting the amount of space used to express them, but that's where the challenge comes in! With so many people writing poetry (even if the reading of it doesn't get the same attention it used to), one can't help but imagine that will eventually carry over into our everyday lives with a little effort. Maybe with a little effort, we can make Matthew Arnold's vision come true.
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