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Arguably on of the greatest bards of all time, Rainier Maria Rilke's writing extended beyond rhyme, literary devices, and measure. When I first read Letters to a Young Poet, it was the words he strung together that moved me, utterly shook me to the core, changing me forever, and yet there was not a single poem on any of the book's pages. His prose was poetry enough for me.

Advising an aspiring writer Rilke wrote, "Go into yourself and test the deeps in which your life takes rise; at its source you will find the answer to the question whether you must create. Accept it, just as it sounds, without inquiring into it. Perhaps it will turn out that you are called to be an artist. Then take that destiny upon yourself and bear it, its burden and its greatness, without ever asking what recompense might come from outside."

It is easy to see, as a self-proclaimed writer myself, why these words are so important. Sure, they are just words, but they are so pregnant with meaning that I have found myself going back to them every time I doubt my own ability to create.

In the past, poets were exalted, made principal members of royal courts, and virtually worshipped for hundreds of years after their passing. But in this new, fast-paced era of multimedia technology, reality shows, and plasma TVs, it is hard not to question whether or not emotionally driven words, with absolutely no visual stimulation hold the same weight in our society as they once did.

After quite some time ruminating on the question, "Does poetry matter in the 21st century?" I finally found myself satisfied with an answer: absolutely. Perhaps the greatest poets that live today are not quite as celebrated as they would have been historically, but, without any doubt in my mind, I can surely say that every poet's words (whether published, amateur, or somewhere in between) are extremely significant.

Why? Because human beings cannot share consciousness, we each live our lives on separate paths. Although I may not be able to see the path you trek, nor might you be able to see mine, the best I can do to share my life and mind with you is simply to write.

Words may be arbitrary symbols, but in truth, they are the only things that keep us together as a species and a global society. For this reason above all others, no matter how rough, uninspired, or criticized any poetry may be, it is all important, and it all certainly matters.

Learn more about this author, Krystle Hernandez.
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