| I like to think that poetry began soon after humans first used words to communicate. Surely, someone found early on, that words could provoke emotions and reactions. The resonance of well chosen groups of words is strangely pleasing and there is real magic in the creation of complex images in our minds just from the combination of groups of letters. Words can drive us to war, to love, to joy, to despair. Each language has richness and profound meaning in some of its words. Eskimos, or more correctly, the Nunavik Inuit, have 53 words for snow and Sanskrit has 96 words for love. The lexicon of the English language is the greatest of them all, containing more than one million words of which around 170,000 are in current use, and yet we cannot match the nuances of meaning in some other languages, whose vocabularies are smaller. It’s understandable that there are so many beautiful writings recorded in Sanskrit. After all, the word itself means “refined” or “made perfect”. Nevertheless, the sheer vastness of the English language, which includes words from other source languages beyond the British Isles, including German, Scandinavian, French, Latin and Greek, provide it with a treasure chest of vocabulary and a wonderful toolbox for poets. How often do we think of poetry today? In the 19th century, when books ruled unchallenged, well chosen words were sought after. Charles Dickens published his books in serial form in the newspapers and they were devoured. Samuel Langhorne Clemens, a.k.a. Mark Twain, apart from being the best-selling author in the USA, was a prolific speaker and crowds would line up to attend his one man presentations. My great great grand-mother Isabella Caulton published a book of poetry in 1844, entitled “The Domestic Hearth and Other Poems”. No one today would buy a book with that title. Very few people today would buy a book of poems by laureates such as Milton or Keats. And yet, poetry is a wonderful antidote to the stress and worries of this crazy world. The right combination of words can transport us away, much faster than any jet to another, safer place. A place that is uniquely ours, a refuge and a source of strength to continue the battle of life. Compare this to television which can also transport us away, but to someone else’s world, where the brain withers… So this issue is dedicated to Poetry and Poets and Books, that they may always be preserved and remembered, especially when times are difficult and relief seems distant.. Easing stress while stimulating our minds, is an inexpensive tonic and a proven recipe for longevity written by Kevin Hector Smith, Managing Director, Longevity International |
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