the truth of it all

Our literary criticism class talked about the truth of literature a couple of days ago, and I had a heck of a time trying to articulate my thoughts to the class. So I am just going to do a type of freewrite now, to see if any thoughts solidify and help me form a well-worded opinion.

Shelley wrote in his essay "A Defence of Poetry" that "Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world" (717). In other words, poetry teaches us to use our imagination, which teaches us to live morally in society. I agree that training our imagination helps in knowing how to live morally, but I struggle with how this fits in with my Christian beliefs. As a Christian, I believe that Jesus is the only one through whom we learn how to live life abundantly. In this case, perhaps poetry (literature) is just a medium through which we derive meaning. The poetry itself is not truth. It is not intrinsically good. Jesus is intrinsically good, and through knowing him, we know truth. We know life that is moral and fulfilling--as John 10:10 states, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." (NIV)

I think this is also why I struggled with Dr. Powers' discussion on Tuesday. He said that he didn't think poetry was so much a tool for truth, rather he thought it was the truth. Perhaps we had a disconnect somewhere in the conversation, but I really could not agree with him. We all have moments where we read some type of literature and jump for joy that someone else has articulated what our hearts have been hiding from our tongues. But does that make the utterance true? Does that make the word selection inherent truth?

There is still so much that I don't know. And perhaps I am still not making much sense. But that's the purpose of these blogs, is it not? To attempt to reveal what my heart is hiding from my tongue. Someday I'll figure it out.