Poetry - the Universal Language

When I sat down to write my week as a poem today, I wanted to write about anger and the associated emotions arising from it. But instead of writing a poem, I am going to admit to a secret. ‘My name is Emma Barrett and I am a sci-fi and fantasy nerd’. There, I've said it. So you won’t be too surprised now to learn that the most immediate thought which sprang to mind was from Star Wars; specifically, from the Jedi, Yoda:

‘Anger, fear, aggression…the dark side are they. Once you start down the dark path, forever it will dominate your destiny.’

I hear you laughing, but don’t be so quick to dismiss Yoda – that little green guy has a lot of very intelligent things to say, and they are worth thinking about.  Some thoughts have universal meaning – they can travel through space and time. For example, I think his ideology concerning anger, has a lot in common with the following poem, by William Blake:

A Poison Tree by William Blake

I was angry with my friend;

I told my wrath, my wrath did end.

I was angry with my foe;

I told it not, my wrath did grow.

And I watered it in fears,

Night and morning with my tears;

And I sunned it with smiles,

And with soft deceitful wiles.

And it grew both day and night

Till it bore an apple bright;

And my foe beheld it shine,

And he knew that it was mine.

And into my garden stole

When the night had veiled the pole –

In the morning glad I see

My foe outstretched beneath the tree.

Like the great poet that he was, Blake has cleverly used the simple image of the tree to express the complex emotions arising from anger.  At a basic level, he is saying that if you leave anger to fester, it becomes a ‘poison tree’. The character in the poem expends so much energy on his anger. He waters it with his fear and his own tears. In the end, he gets his revenge – but was it worth what he put himself through? Yoda and Blake are saying the same thing – Anger leads to our own fear and aggression, and that can, ultimately, only lead you into darkness.

So, rather than give in to my anger and sit here writing a ‘poison pen’ poem, I decided to listen to some very good advice from a long time ago, and a galaxy far, far away… After all, poetry is the universal language.

Photo from www.flickr.com/photos/jimkster