by Dominique. White

Created on: June 21, 2008   Last Updated: January 21, 2011

I would have to say that the best poetry definitely comes from the heart. Everything at its best arises from such a place. A lot of people say think with your head not with your heart but I believe that people should think with the head and be led by the heart. Of course one has to be rational about the decisions that he or she chooses to make, but at the end of the day, the heart always knows best.

Think about when Robert Frost wrote "The Road Less Traveled." He was talking about life experience. He was talking about how one wrong turn or one right turn can lead you to the destiny you were meant to fulfill or to a place where you wish you could turn back the clock and do it all over again. Emotions like that do not come from the head. Emotions like that are things that you feel on a deeply personal level. They are things that you yourself would have to experience in order to truly understand the magnitude of the situation. That poem came from nowhere but the heart.

Take a second to relive the poetry of Langston Hughes. When he talked about the story of the negro mother, when he spoke of him being American just as everyone else, readers could feel the hurt, the pain, the power of those words. You could feel the scream that he held back, the longing of a man who simply wanted to be understood, respected, and treated as an equal. That kind of emotion comes from somewhere deep within, maybe even past the heart and on down to the deepest parts of the soul.

Even surpassing poetry, all art comes from the depths of the heart. Michelangelo painted arguably some of the most beautiful pieces ever known to man. I am almost certain that he did not sit and think about what he wanted to paint, and then construct a sketch of that idea, and then finally paint it. Great art, the best art, just flows.

Great poetry makes you feel things you never thought you could. It makes you aware of emotions that you never knew you possessed. Great poetry ignites the very best and worst parts of human kind. I do believe that the mind is an important asset to creating great art, especially poetry; however, I do not believe that it makes the final decision on what the best poems ignite. Without the mind, poets would have no words, but without the heart, they would have nothing to say.

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