Poetry and Self–Transformation

Abstract

Recognizing that the central figures of their Faith wrote poems, members of the Bahá’í community rightly honor poetry. Unlike non-Bahá’í artists who may feel unappreciated and estranged from society because they have no shared view of the universe and whose poetry may become increasingly obscure, pri­vate, and difficult, the Bahá’í who writes poems enjoys a sense of family with an international audience made up of people who hold similar spiritual values and aspirations, and the Bahá’í poet can joyfully restate the eternal themes traditionally addressed in poetry, taking care to avoid imitating the Sacred Texts. In the process of engaging in this craft, the Bahá’í poet will be performing an act of worship which should not only transform the writer but also hold before readers the possibility of their being transformed too. White’s poem, “Rescue,” is cited to illustrate the point that transformation must originate from within the individual.