Since the time of early man, we have loved to engage in storytelling; the fine art of creating satisfying and elaborate tales larger and grander than everyday life. What is it that makes this mode of creativity so appealing? Why are we drawn to poetry in particular? Emily-Rose explores this culturally diverse art-form and ventures to The Scottish Poetry Library to find out more.

What is poetry? According to dictionary definitions, poetry is defined as a ‘literary work in which the expression of feelings and ideas is given intensity by the use of distinctive style and rhythm’. Other sources also highlight the idea of ‘concentrated emotion.’ This is something distinctively unique to poetry as compared with other forms of writing. Other literary forms do involve feelings and ideas; however these are often incorporated into a larger work or narrative. Poetry is a snapshot into a feeling, an idea, or a concept. Successful poetry allows the reader to empathise with the poet and embody or understand that particular thought form with the same intensity.

For the lovers of words, Edinburgh is home to a magnificent collection of poetic works spanning centuries and genres. We chatted to Kevin Williamson, Communications Manager at the Scottish Poetry Library (SPL) who shared some insights into the SPL and its unique history, as well as poetry’s place in our ever-changing world. ‘The 1999 building was designed by award winning architect Malcolm Fraser and is gorgeously constructed inside with oak, glass and steel fittings, and beautifully lit!’

Williamson continued, ‘there are works of art throughout the library, inspired by poetry, occasional exhibitions, and a children’s area for the bairns. The staff are the jewel in the crown though, incredibly welcoming and helpful, for all your poetry inquiries.’

If you happen to take a trip to Edinburgh, a visit to the SPL is well worth it. ‘You will have access to tens of thousands of poetry books, collections, anthologies, memoirs, essays, journals, magazines as well as audio cassettes and CDs that you can either read in the building or take home to read at your leisure.’ The SPL also do a postal service whereby you don’t even need to be present in person to borrow books, as well as a beautiful gift-shop selling postcards and books by local authors.

Poetry enables us to transcend our limited beliefs and culture-bound assumptions – it is a window into new thoughts, new places and new worlds. Williamson explained: ‘everyone can find a use for poetry at some points in their lives.

The nursery rhymes of childhood create a love and feel for rhythm and verse. Funerals and weddings often feature poetry, but it is in our quotidian day-to-day existences that poetry excels. Poems seek to communicate deeper truths, personal feelings, shared hopes and fears, joy and loss, personal and social concerns, between writer and reader in ways that go beyond news facts and everyday speech into a hazier landscape somewhere between the conscious and subconscious mind.’

S. T. Coleridge believed that poetry was opposed to science and that poetry was the ‘communication of immediate pleasure’. This seems to be the distinction between poetry and other literary forms – it portrays something about the immediacy of our thoughts and feelings, it conveys the presence of our experience to others.

There is a rise of performance poetry in contemporary times with many open mic nights and spoken word events cascading across the U.K. potentially inspired by the still active ‘punk poet’ John Cooper Clark. He rose to fame in the 1970’s through combining his spoken word with music.

He believes poetry is an art-form accessible to everyone – poetry in particular can defy regular rules of grammar and punctuation and allows for true expression.

Ultimately, poetry allows us to express our innermost feelings. We can distort and disguise them, contort and rephrase events into whatever our imagination desires. Poetry is a therapeutic tool to overcome our obstacles, to acknowledge and embrace them. Poetry can also be used for communication, connection and collaboration. Poetry allows us to have fun with words – to experiment with linguistic forms and challenge conventional structures.

As Williamson at the SPL said, ‘poems can act as revelations, opening neurological connections across time and place, linking memory with the present and even the future. Poems do things that no other form of language can do. That’s why they’re special.’

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