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On Being · January 9, 2025 · 55m
Tracy K. Smith and Joy Harjo: Poetry as a Way of Knowing
Two former U.S. Poets Laureate — Tracy K. Smith and Joy Harjo — on poetry as a form of knowledge that scientific and analytical thinking cannot access. Reading poetry as a practice of attention and presence.
This summary was generated from show notes and public descriptions, not from a full transcript review. Details may contain inaccuracies.
Highlights
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Poetry is not decoration on top of meaning — it is a form of meaning that prose cannot achieve
Smith argues that poetry does not ornament ideas that could be expressed more clearly in prose. Poetry creates meanings that only exist in the specific arrangement of sounds, rhythms, and images — meanings that disappear when paraphrased.•
Attention is the fundamental moral act — and poetry trains attention
Smith and Harjo argue that the capacity to pay attention — really pay attention — to another persons experience is the foundation of moral life. Poetry trains this capacity by demanding slow, careful attention to every word.Was this useful?