The Ways of the Worldviews (Part 56): Now for something a bit different…Poetry, Art, Music, and Perspective

When I was in college, I fell in love with poetry and literature, and some of the most influential literature I came across of that of the 19^th century Romantics and Transcendentalists. In my freshman and sophomore years, American writers like Walt Whitman and Ralph Waldo Emerson sparked my imagination, and then it was on to the Romantic and Victorian poets of English Literature during my junior and senior years. Therefore in this post I want to take time to discuss 19^th century literature, poetry, and art, and how that had a profound philosophical impact on Western culture and worldview.

Who can not be inspired by some of the orations of Emerson?

“To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men—that is genius. Speak your latent conviction, and it shall be the universal sense; for the inmost in due time becomes the outmost, and our first thought is rendered back to us by the trumpets of the Last Judgment.” (Self Reliance)

And Walt Whitman—Who can not be stirred by the call to explore and adventure; the call to be fully alive:

Allons! we must not stop here,
However sweet these laid-up stores,
however convenient this dwelling we cannot remain here,
However shelter’d this port and however calm these waters
we must not anchor here,
However welcome the hospitality that surrounds us
we are permitted to receive it but a little while.
(Song of the Open Road)

Who can not fall in love, or at least remember the feeling of falling in love, when reading Lord Byron?

She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes (She Walks in Beauty)

The beauty and truth that poured out of poets like Percy Bysshe Shelley and John Keats; the regal majesty of Alfred Lord Tennyson’s Ulysses:

Come, my friends,
‘Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and tho’
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

It might sound almost blasphemous to some, but the writings of these Romantic and Transcendental poets of the 19^th century quite possibly have made more of an impact on the deepest part of my being than any psalm or proverb in the Bible. Incidentally, it was during my college years that the movie Dead Poets Society came out, and I was hooked: a door had been opened to me, and I felt my soul being washed over with a sense of beauty and wonder at the richness of life that I had never experienced before. It was a feeling of transcendence that took me beyond the trivial and mundane by the praising and extolling of the transcendence that could be found within the mundane. It truly was as William Blake wrote:

To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour

Romanticism and Transcendentalism
So why this talk about poetry and literature, beauty and truth? Well, as I’ve been writing these posts on the “Ways of the Worldviews,” I’ve realized that much of it, though hopefully fascinating, is still nonetheless rather objective, analytical, and intellectual. And certainly, it is something that needs to be done more often in our society. But at the same time, we need to realize that the philosophers of any age pretty much erect the scaffolding or lay the foundation for the culture of their time—but aside from the few oddballs, who really gets excited about crawling down under the house to check out the foundation?

The real lifeblood that pumps through a society can be seen in its art, its poetry, and its music. It’s as John Keating says in Dead Poets Society:

This outlook on life was exactly what the Romantic and Transcendentalist poets of the 19^th century celebrated in their poetry. Now they certainly did not celebrate the traditional, formalized Christianity of their time, but at the same time, they were radically opposed to much of the so-called Enlightenment tripe that can spilled over from the 18^th century. While Enlightenment philosophers were espousing dry rationalism, and the idea that autonomous human reason reigned supreme in matters of truth, the Romantics and Transcendentalists said, “Not so fast.”

What was important was emotions and imagination, the creative spirit and the power of human experience over cold reason and so-called “objective truths.” Or to put it another way, whereas much of the philosophy focused on the autonomous human reason as the most important way to understand truth and life, the Romantics and Transcendentalists focused on autonomous human imagination as the key to truth and life. They certainly didn’t devalue reason; but they certainly didn’t put it on a pedestal. As John Keating says, “Medicine, law, business, engineering—these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life; but poetry, beauty, romance, love—these are what we stay alive for.”

And I have to say, I agree—analyzing the philosophers and thinkers of any age is necessary if one is to get a handle on how cultures and societies evolve; but if you want to know how cultures and societies live and breathe, you have to embrace the art of the time—not coldly analyze it, but embrace it, breathe it, and allow yourself to be moved by it.

And don’t limit yourself to just poetry. Read the novels of Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, and Bram Stoker. Listen to the music of Claude Debussy, Erik Satie, Franz Liszt, and Frederic Chopin. Gaze at the artwork of Vincent Van Gogh.

The Reason Why I Bring This Up
The reason why I have written this post, which is so unlike my other “Ways of the Worldviews” posts is because, now that I am approaching the 20^th century, I want to expand my focus on things more than just the philosophers and thinkers. We are more aware of the impact of the artists in and around our own era, yet, as history would have it, we often forget the impact of the artists in times long ago.

Yes, there will always be the rare few artists, be it Shakespeare, or Bach, or Beethoven, or Mozart, who transcend their time, and who thus still make their presence felt to this day. But I can almost guarantee you that if you lived in late 16^th century England, Shakespeare was not the only playwright around. 18^th century Europe had many more composers than just Beethoven and Mozart. And those long-forgotten playwrights and composers no doubt made an impact in their own time.

But the fact is, we as a society still are aware of the artists of not only the 19^th century, but also of the 20^th century up to today. The singer/songwriter Sting, whom I consider to be one of the most, if not the most, influential musicians in my life, who has impacted my entire outlook on life, will probably be a long-forgotten footnote in history a mere 100 years from now. Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Michael Jackson—those are the ones who will get the ink when future generations read about our generation. We call can think of the artists and writers who, from our perspective, have had such a tremendous impact on the here and now of our world, but who will fade away in the history books. Still, that doesn’t diminish the fact that they really did have an impact on society, if only for awhile.

Here’s the Take Away
The thing I most appreciate about art, poetry and music, especially when one considers it throughout history, is this: despite the attempts of countless thinkers, philosophers, and politicians to fit life into nice, neat little boxes and ideologies, despite the attempts of those who attempt to hook Leviathan with the fish-hook of human reason, the artists, poets, and musicians of every society in every age bear witness to the limitedness of human intellect and reason, and the limitlessness of human imagination and wonder, because at its heart, the artistic drive in human beings is a transcendental yearning for something that is greater than mere humanity. It is a yearning for the divine to incarnate itself within the trappings of nature and creation, so that we can worship and wonder, however imperfectly, within our finite existence.

Art is the creative expression that bears witness to the Creator God. And so, as you may strive to understand history better, or get a better grasp on the “flow” of Western thought, philosophy, and culture, never forget to take time to listen to great composers, to read the immortal poets, and let yourself wonder and worship. When you do, you realize that so many of the intellectual arguments we often get worked up over, be it scientific debates over creation/evolution, or political debates regarding Republicans and Democrats—you realize how mundane they really are. Yes, it is necessary to hash topics like those out, but be sure to listen to Claire de Lune, and remind yourself that there are more important things in life that “being right.”