Heart

by Wayne Leon Learmond

Created on: April 15, 2010   Last Updated: March 22, 2012

All poetry, no matter what genre it is, has to come from the heart.  For without the emotion and the feeling behind the words, then the words are but shallow, empty shells upon the page. Poetry has to be 'felt' by the writer, in order to pass on that same feeling onto the reader.

Some people may say that  the best type of poetry comes from the mind - that it is the mind that conjures up the words and, helps put the words down on the page. However, if there is no feeling behind the words - if there is no emotion -  then what is the point of poetry? There would then be no point at all to what you write and what the reader would read.

Read any poem by Shakespeare, or Edgar Allan Poe to name but two and, what the reader will inevitably find, is feeling and emotion behind the words. Poetry may be sombre, happy, sad, scary or despairing - depending on what the writer wanted to convey at that particuar time of writing the piece.  However, no matter what genre it is, the writer must be able to hold the reader captive with his/her words.

This must be the first thing a poem has to be able to achieve.  A skilled writer in poetry can transfer their feelings and emotions into the poem - and over to the reader.  A skilled writer - not just in poetry, but in any genre of writing as well -  can  - as explained above - make the reader 'feel' whatever particular emotion his or her work contains and conveys.

Yes, the mind does play a major part in helping to form the words and, furthermore, the mind acts in forming new ideas about how to place the poetry down on the page.  But what the conscious mind cannot do is convey to the reader the power of 'feeling' and 'emotion' that drives a poem on. This 'emotion' this 'feeling' has to come come from the subconscious mind - and the heart.

I have written poetry for as long as I can remember and, can honestly say, that the heart and the emotion are the driving forces that fuels poetry. The heart and the emotion are the forces that give the words, power upon the page or screen. The heart - not to mention the  emotion - are the forces that move the words on the page.  Not only that, but they move the reader to feel what the writer felt at that particular time.

Poetry comes from the mind AND the heart - acting through the emotion of the writer - each working in tandem with the other. This then creates a piece of art that is able to touch the very nerve of the reader. Ideas come from the mind, the emotion from the heart, and the three work together in tandem. It is a creative force that comes into play and, continues to come into play, every single time a poem is written or read.

The best form of poetry comes from the heart, but the mind - and the emotion play their parts too. However, to write poetry without feeling, emotion, or depth is the wrong way to write.  The poetry will then become 'meaningless' upon the page, empty words holding no power of emotion at all. The writer feels nothing, so that is conveyed to the reader and so the poetry - although it may be good - lacks the emotional power to 'pull' the reader in. 

When you write poetry for the first time write from your heart. Write with emotion and make the reader 'feel' what you 'feel'. This will then come across to the reader. It will touch the heart and emotion of the reader and will succeed were another poem, that lacks feeling, will fail.   The best kind of poetry must always come from the heart, powered by emotion and feeling. For without the heart behind the words, what then is the point of poetry?

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