Charles G. D. Roberts wrote both prose and poetry, and is
often referred to as the Father of Canadian Poetry. This gentleman offered
inspiration and assistance to other poets of his time in order to get his name.
Roberts was born and raised in New Brunswick, and both his brother Theodore Roberts
and his sister Jane Roberts grew up to be authors as well. "But what's this have to do with barns?" I can almost hear you saying it now.
A poem
that Roberts wrote by the name of "In an Old Barn" caught my attention the
instant I started to read it. Check it out here.
The poem immediately drew on my
sense of peace, for the scene seems very quiet and comfortable. Things feel
natural in the setting, as they’re away from the bustle of the outside world. I
began to ponder however, after finishing the poem. The scenery changes to
outside of the barn, and we get a view of a cold and desolate outside. The barn
represents not only a sense of peace and security, but also a mental wall that
we erect, blocking out all that disturbs our internal paradises.
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| Sometimes our barns aren't as beautiful as we once thought. |
Shani Mootoo’s essay Poetry Lesson quickly began to take up
much of my thought after this. Her essay speaks of how poetry is a gift when we find it
without seeking it out. The paths we take in life offer us many chances of
finding poetry, but many of which passes us by. We need only open our eyes to
the world around us, and soon we will find our minds filled with the dancing
words and emotions we call poetry.
As soon as you finish reading
this, I want you to stand up, take a step outside – even if it’s the dead of
night – and find something about it you love. Stand no further than two steps
from your door. Guaranteed you can find something that will trigger a response.
Who knows what you’ll find? The world so close around us offers us so much beauty
to take in and love, but we’re all too focussed on our personal ‘barns’ to see
it. Stand up, open the door, and breath your life into the world. You may just
find your muse.
I went outside.
ReplyDeleteTwo steps away from my door was the new phone book.
Spooky.
Honestly, I had no idea this guy even existed... I've stayed away from 19th century Canadian poets after a guy named James McIntyre - famously known as "The Cheese Poet" - left a pretty bad taste in my mouth with his material. Roberts, thankfully, is fantastic though.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I gotta love that Mootoo reference; trying to find your poetic voice through patiently open-mindedness definitely makes sense to me.
Followed your advice: I walked out the front door a warm coffee shop downtown, and just stood outside in the cold. The gray buildings are decorated with early Christmas lights and a guy asks me for change. I'm sure I can pull something from this.
Really enjoyed this blog post and your presentation! I actually do this quite often - take a minute to take everything in.
ReplyDeleteYour reference to Mootoo reminded me of our first class this semester when we talked about how "everything is poetry". I really like that idea, that you can step outside your door and something, anything, is an idea. I think that people often wonder why we bother with poetry... but I think it's just having an awareness and a thoughtfulness of the things around us.
ReplyDelete