Genuine poetry

T.S. Eliot

Susann Magsamen and Ivy Ross, the authors of Your Brain on Art, quote T,S, Eliot as saying that "genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood."

I am not sure I understand that, but it does communicate something to me. Poetry is an art, perhaps the oldest literary art. One need not understand a painting, a ballet or a symphony for it communicate something to you, so why not poetry? Perhaps it is simply a feeling or a mood. The point of Magsamen and Ross's book is that art makes us feel better, and so it must communicate something.

I notice that Eliot, himself a genuine poet, used the adjective genuine in his comment. Even that part of the statement makes us wonder what he meant. Did he mean serious poetry? Good poetry? Did he mean poetry that by its very nature can be challenging to understand or that can be understood in a multitude of ways?

The authors observe that poems are often read at celebrations and ceremonial events, such as funerals, weddings, commencements and presidential inaugurations. These read or recited poems are not necessarily understood by everyone who hears them, yet they do communicate something. They declare that this is a serious moment, a profound moment. It is the kind of moment that genuine poets write about.