2009 Initiative - "365 Holy Days": Beginning in 1996, the month of April has been observed in the United States as National Poetry Month, so with that as our background, this week we will study poetry and its impact on our lives and the lives of those around us.
WELLness
Warm up: Foundational scriptures - Check out Romans 12:2 and First Corinthians 9:19-23 to get a good anchor in God's Word before EVER attempting to climb the slippery slopes of poetry.
Exercise: What is poetry? In the given example, discuss whether or not it is poetry, and why or why not.
Love
Above
A dove
Heard of
Her doves
Her does
Her ebbs
Her flows
Her pain
Her loss
His pain
His cross
His death
His rise
His crew
Suffice
His last
Refrain
I love
You so
Respond
Repent
RejoiceLesson: Poetry is the proof beyond intelligence, the proof of the spirit and the soul that is in every human being; poetry, like all artforms, gives evidence of something more within the artist that produced it. The evidence that emanates from any work of art is only discernable, however, by those who also are spiritual in nature.
Earmarks of poetry include rhyme scheme, meter, rhythm and pattern; also, poetry tends to be written with open-ended usage, creating the effect of different meanings to different people. Hence, poetry, like other artforms, is partially what it is, and partially what the reader of the poetry brings to the poem. This is what causes the slippery slope when dealing with poetry.
At this point, we should look at three types of worldviews: The premodern, the modern and the postmodern. For adequate descriptions, check out "Premodernity", "Modernism" and "Postmodernism" on www.wikipedia.org; the descriptions found there are adequate.
Poetry has taken on a new importance and relevance with the rise of postmodernism; because of its nature to be, to some degree, form-fitting to its readers.
With all of that said, let's look over some of God's poetry, the Song of Songs, the first five verses of chapter 1.
Hopefully, you will experience a little confusion in looking over the words of these verses, especially in english. This confusion stems not only from the issues that come from translation from one language to another, but also from the foreign culture whose images are pervasive in the words we read.
Life application: Poetry affects everything in our lives! Our God has written the greatest poetry; part of our task is to understand it! We can read the words easily enough; grasping their meanings, however, may take a lifetime, or even an eternity! Read more poetry, as the Holy Spirit leads you; write some poetry as you have been lead. Be a poem to those around you and let them glorify your Father in heaven!back to Crosstrainers main page
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