Shedding Light in the Hearts: Reflections on Poetry

Abstract

Starting from a statement by Giuseppe Ungaretti, poetry is examined as an emotional stimulus, as truth, and as a privileged form of linguistic expression. Each aspect is explored in its limitations and merits, in the light of quotations from contemporary Italian poets and the Bahá’í writings, it is suggested that as poets increasingly surpass these limitations and develop these merits within the framework of a spiritual conception of the nature of reality, they may overcome the present crisis in the relations between poetry and society arid better pursue, in the full freedom of their inspiration, their ultimate purpose, which is to help their fellows to “attain the station of true understanding and nobility.”