The Capacity of Poetry: Maria Popova
Bulgarian-American writer Maria Popova is the creative and intellectual force behind The Marginalian (formerly called Brain Pickings)—the gold standard of literary blogs. Reflecting a depth of research and reflection, Popova writes on complex and often abstract ideas relating to the arts, philosophy, science and culture, in accessible and poignant ways.
Popova’s love of poetry is a framing feature of The Marginalian, exemplified by the poetry pop-ups which occur randomly as you navigate the blog, moving between posts on diverse topics. On Monday, in honour of National Poetry Month in the US, Popova tweeted the following quotation from philosopher William James, contending that poetry serves to express what language cannot—to say what otherwise cannot be said.
This idea—that poetry is ‘saying the ineffable’—suggests that through its abstract gathering of words, sounds and images, poetry is capable of communicating the most complex of our human thoughts and feelings.
In this context, Popova imagines poetry as a liquid overspilling the bounds of language—a superfluity of human consciousness and experience, which naturally finds more apt expression in imagery and ambiguity.
On this expressive capacity of poetry, Popova writes:
‘Language is not the content of thought but the vessel into which we pour the ambivalences and contradictions of our thinking, afloat on the current of feeling and time. When the vessel becomes too small to hold what we pour into it, language spills into poetry.
In this respect, poetry serves the same function as prayer: to give shape and voice to our unspoken and often unspeakable hopes, fears, and inner tremblings — the tenderest substance of our lives, to be held between the palms and passed from hand to compassionate hand.’
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