The Splendor of Poetry to Produce Presence

The Splendor of Poetry to Produce Presence

At the risk of those who see the word “poetry” and suddenly become excited about washing dishes or see a reference to Shakespeare and quickly scroll past this post, opting to organize a messy closet instead, I would like to share my journey into the beauty of language to awaken the heart and mind to the sensitivities of the soul.

The soul … responds to everything that pleases, just as soon as beauty awakens it to act. — Dante Alighieri

If you are someone who already enjoys poetry or has resisted washing dishes or cleaning a closet and made it this far in reading, I hope I can awaken your interest in suspending your past attitudes about understanding poetry, especially Shakespeare. If a country girl like me from a small-town in the Midwest has overcome the inertia or hopeless sense that poetry is for scholars, I hope to encourage your enthusiasm for poetry to enhance and heighten your state and to nurture your life.

My Teacher paraphrased Socrates who taught that, “All men are in a state of spiritual and physical gestation and need an environment of beauty in which to nurture their birth.” Although Socrates may not have written poetry, he was a man of words and undoubtably would include beautiful words as a means of feeding the soul. My desire to understand the Teacher more fully and to explore the influences that nurtured his life and gave rise to his consciousness were the impetus for me to study Shakespeare.

Over the many years, I have heard my Teacher often quote Shakespeare in the context of his teaching, and I wanted to understand more. Because appreciation and transformation of beauty has been a foundation of self-remembering in his teaching, I began to memorize the Sonnets on long walks with my dog. As I approached learning a sonnet, I did not research other interpretations but relied on the meaning to seep into my awareness.

I began by reciting the lines aloud, alter the rhythm, vary the accent or emphasis of particular words, stress different syllables, and all the while suspending anything I did not understand. I was confident that understanding would be revealed as I examined each letter, word, phrase, stanza, couplet and eventually the entire Sonnet. Frankly, I had no idea what I was doing except that it felt like I was playing with a toy and using my experience of studying music as a guide to studying words.

Just as we have all heard and acknowledge the sentiment that “a picture paints a thousand words,” I maintain that words, when used masterfully, paint a thousand pictures. Then the question becomes, who cares if I have more than a thousand pictures or words if I am unable to use them for enhancing the state of Presence and quickening the birth of Higher Centers.

Let us take a quick look at Sonnet 47. The Folger Shakespeare Library explains that “the poet’s eyes [the outward part] and heart [the inward part] become allies, with the eyes sometimes inviting the heart to enjoy the picture, and the heart sometimes inviting the eyes to share in its ‘thoughts of love.’ The beloved, though absent, is thus doubly present to the poet through the picture and through the poet’s thoughts.”

As you read – preferably aloud – suspend anything confusing and see if you can see the picture Shakespeare is painting between the eye and heart. There is a presence that stands above the inward and outward part, an observer with Divided Attention between the two. The result is a mystical presence of the beloved ─ Higher Centers ─ beyond the physical world.

This sonnet is an example of how “beauty awakens [the soul] to act.” Beauty goes beyond pleasure into feeding and nurturing a second birth.

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Cobbe Portrait of William Shakespeare (Sonnet 47)