“How can a simple poem connect you to others?” you might ask. Think about a poem that perfectly expresses what you’re thinking and feeling. How does it make you feel? Do you feel understood somehow? Do you feel less alone? In poems, you realize that we all share many human experiences and emotions, that we are not as different as we think. We discover we are not alone in our pains and joys.

Lilija Valis, a performative poet, who reads her poetry accompanied to music to audience, says that “much of poetry is wanting to connect.” For her, poetry is a form of storytelling, but not in a factual sense but in a heartfelt way, people relating to other people’s stories.  Poetry allowed her to share her experiences, her story. And in putting it out there, she allows others to relate to it and make connections. According to Lilia, poems, as an artform, can take our personal experiences and transforms them into something that can be good for others. They read or hear your poem, and they get inspired by it. Poems builds ‘bridges and connections,” creating a bond that may not be there before.

According to singer-songwriter Alice Osborn, poetry is like the Windex on a grubby car window—it bares open the vulnerabilities of human beings so we can all relate to each other a little better. It unlocks a feeling of belonging and closeness as we realize that other people have experienced similar experiences or sentiments and that our joys and struggles are shared and understood.

Another poet, Lidy Wilks, author of Can You Catch My Flow? has this to say about poetry: “Poetry, if we let it and embrace it, can offer us a way to empathize with one another. In its immediacy, poetry is a counselor helping us to understand one another. Leading us away from hate to love, from violence to mercy and pity.”

Rachel Kelly, author of You’ll Never Walk Alone: Poems for Life’s Ups and Downs, says that when we write poems, it allows our feelings to find expression, giving words and images to our emotions. Poems evoke images that make sense of our feelings. These images make our feelings less scary, or even happier. On the other hand, when we listen or read poems, there’s that moment of recognition when we go, “That’s what I’m feeling!” In poetry, we realize that someone has felt our emotions in a similar way and that makes it all okay.

Susan Frybort writes poem in order to connect. Her is what she says: “I write poetry in order to show others that what is inside of me is also within them: Our potential, the characteristics and qualities that make us human, and ultimately I attempt to pinpoint what could be living inside our fear and preventing us from experiencing the warm inviting waters of intimacy. When we allow our emotions the opportunity to become expressed through poetry, we achieve that intimacy as we bare the content of our souls for others to witness. We connect through our revealing, and in the end, we will find these deep forms of connection will be resilient and resonant throughout time.”

Finally, Belinda Jack, author of academic paper “Poetry and Emotion,” describes poetry as “a two-way street of communication that starts when a writer conveys the emotions they feel, and continues when a reader interprets the figurative language that is sometimes used,” referring this as an “interpretive act.”

In a nutshell, poetry connect us to others because poems (as part of literature), “you discover that your longings are universal longings, that you’re not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong” (Scott Fitzgerald).

Sources:

Donata, Liv. “The Psychology of Poetry.” Last modified October 18, 2021. “https://medium.com/@livdonata/the-psychology-of-poetry-6e31cf2bc1d0.

Kelly, Rachel. “How Poetry Can Bring People Together, and Practical Ways to Do So.” Last modified March 31, 2023. https://www.inspirethemind.org/post/how-poetry-can-bring-people-together-and-practical-ways-to-do-so.

McCann, Adele. “Poetry Connects Us” Last modified https://thecolloquiumsite.wordpress.com/2017/09/06/poetry-connects-us/.

Osborn, Alice. “Why Is Poetry Important to Our World Today?” Last modified March 14, 2016. https://aliceosborn.com/why-is-poetry-important-to-our-world-today/.