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“When power corrupts,
poetry cleanses”
John F. Kennedy proclaimed in his touching tribute to Robert Frost, celebrating Poetry as “the means of saving power from itself.” And although Poetry itself exerts a singular power over the Human Spirit, as one of the greatest poets of all time observed, it is hardly a power that comes easily to the poet ...

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"When power corrupts, poetry cleanses," John F. Kennedy proclaimed in his touching tribute to Robert Frost, celebrating poetry as "the means of saving power from itself." And although poetry itself exerts a singular power over the human spirit, as one of the greatest poets of all time observed, it is hardly a power that comes easily to the poet: "Writing poetry is an unnatural act," Elizabeth Bishop wrote when she was only twenty-three. So how, then, does one come to master this unnatural power - how does one become a Poet?

That's what the wise and wonderful Wendell Berry (b. August 5, 1934) - a man of great wisdom on solitude, love, and our "rugged individualism" - explores in a marvelous poem titled "How to Be a Poet (to remind myself)," found in his New Collected Poems (public library).

In this recording from the consistently transcendent , Berry brings his beautifully aged voice to the poem - which is in many ways not only about how to be a poet, but also about how to be an artist of any kind. With its insistence on the vitalizing power of silence and stillness and self-refinement, it is perhaps, above all, about how to be a complete human being.

HOW TO BE A POET
(to remind myself)

Make a place to sit down.
Sit down. Be quiet.
You must depend upon
affection, reading, knowledge,
skill - more of each
than you have - inspiration,
work, growing older, patience,
for patience joins time
to eternity. Any readers
who like your poems,
doubt their judgment.

Breathe with unconditional breath
the unconditioned air.
Shun electric wire.
Communicate slowly. Live
a three-dimensioned life;
stay away from screens.
Stay away from anything
that obscures the place it is in.
There are no unsacred places;
there are only sacred places
and desecrated places.

Accept what comes from silence.
Make the best you can of it.
Of the little words that come
out of the silence, like prayers
prayed back to the one who prays,
make a poem that does not disturb
the silence from which it came.

For more of Berry's enduring wisdom, see his meditations on the two great enemies of creative work and what poetic form reveals about the secret of marriage, then treat yourself to Derek Walcott's stirring ode to being at home in ourselves and subscribe to On Being here.

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Wendell Berry on How to Be a Poet and a Complete Human Being

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"When power corrupts, poetry cleanses," John F. Kennedy proclaimed in his touching tribute to Robert Frost, celebrating poetry as "the means of saving power from itself." And although poetry itself exerts a singular power over the human spirit, as one of the greatest poets of all time observed, it is hardly a power that comes easily to the poet: "Writing poetry is an unnatural act," Elizabeth Bishop wrote when she was only twenty-three.

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"Art is looking at things carefully."   William Saroyan

When the world insists that 'Scientific Logic' is the only epistemology, and when the 'Free Enterprise System' dictates the worth of one's actions, then Art is the saviour, the human impulse that re-connects the physical world with the spiritual world (see Thomas Aquinus).  By this I mean that Art, by definition, gets its raison d'etre from human impulses not measurable by these other two criteria.
Art today justifies our impulses, our non-directed impulses toward Beauty, our non-directed need to create something that didn't exist before us and would not exist if not for us.
The term "Beauty" is Art's companion, if we define Beauty as a balance, an impulse toward order, a recognition of the world's "rightness" despite the everyday "wrongness" that seems to want to inundate us.
Today Art redeems our species.

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"Make a place to sit down. Sit down. Be quiet. You must depend upon affection, reading, knowledge, skill — more of each than you have — inspiration, work, growing older, patience, for patience joins time to eternity...."

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"Make a place to sit down. Sit down. Be quiet. You must depend upon affection, reading, knowledge, skill — more of each than you have — inspiration, work, growing older, patience, for patience joins time to eternity...."

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Marta's inspiring reflection on the importance of Art:

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Marta's inspiring reflection on the importance of Art:

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"Cultivating Beauty helps to be positive from many points of view, in order to enhance what you possess, improve it and achieve what you need to solve a problem."

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L Marta_The Importance of Art _ potenziamento

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In my opinion, Art is a different language which says things that even words cannot say. I strongly believe that Art helps people to express their emotions and feelings.

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Art gives the chance to show the talent of the artist and gives the opportunity to those who contemplate it to appreciate it.

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Art is vital since it makes you feel satisfied and happy, calm and relaxed. It is what makes us more human and what makes us complete individuals.

Studies have shown that “the arts enhance the process of learning. The systems they nourish, which include our integrated sensory, attentional, cognitive, emotional, and motor capacities, are, in fact, the driving forces behind all other learning” (Jensen, 2001).

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Art is important for our general culture but it is a  way to escape from our real world...like the authors When They write a book

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In my opinion art can make you feel emotions that you wouldn’t feel in your every day life and gives you a little time to escape with your mind from a hard day.

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In my opinion art is an instrument thanks to which we feel feelings that can be positive or negative  by using our five senses.
The power of art is this: make people feel something that can be different from person to person.
The role of the artist is just express him\her self in order to make his\her thoughts and feelings free. The audience will percive it  even in a different way from that the artist would have liked to  because human being's mind change the perception of the artist's messages following his\her state of mind at that moment.
Everyone can be an artist and everything can be art.

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Write & Improve is a free service for learners of English to practice their written English. Submit your written work and receive feedback in seconds, covering spelling, vocabulary, grammar and general style.

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Being an artist involves wearing all sorts of masks, just like any other job, but the difference is we have the lingering responsibility to unearth the truth of things.   from artworkarchive.com

I definetely agree with this sentence since when I find myself in front of a painting or any artistic expression I feel like being able to identify myself with the author, and when it happens I immediately feel the unread message.

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I personally think that art is fundamental during these hard days.
Boredom obliges us to escape from it, and our brain finds a way for it in art.
Before the quarantine I didn't have so much possibilities to play music, now I can do a lot of more things and learned a lot of new songs I love.
In my opinion even the most known and important artists in the world, before starting any of their works were dying of boredom.

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Wislawa Szymborska

They jumped from the burning floors—
one, two, a few more,
higher, lower.

The photograph halted them in life,
and now keeps them
above the earth toward the earth.

Each is still complete,
with a particular face
and blood well hidden.

There's enough time
for hair to come loose,
for keys and coins
to fall from pockets.

They're still within the air's reach,
within the compass of places
that have just now opened.

I can do only two things for them—
describe this flight
and not add a last line.

https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/photograph-from-september-11/

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Try this to make your Writing improve dramatically!

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Developed by the University of Cambridge, Write & Improve is a FREE tool that helps every learner to improve their English writing.

Choose from hundreds of tasks at all levels and start writing, or create your own tasks

Submit your writing and get a result linked to the international standard, the CEFR

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Write & Improve is a free service for learners of English to practise their written English. Submit your written work and receive feedback in seconds, covering spelling, vocabulary, grammar and general style.

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Art is the way by which  the mind can approach the spirit. Or at least I use it in order to feel closer to my soul.

“Art is the activity by which a person, having experienced an emotion, intentionally transmits it to others” – Leo Tolstoy

that could be important especially in outìr times:
"Art is uniquely positioned to move people—inspiring us, inciting new questions and provoking curiosity, excitement, and outrage.

Artists can strengthen the will and push people to act. They do not think like policymakers or academics people.

Artists think from their heart – big, revolutionary and visionary ideas.

This is why artists are able to move people to action, thus creates a significant cultural and political contributions.

This is what makes art powerful."

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I think Art is a vital means Human Beings spontaneously developed in order to express their own reflections about the world that surrounds them.
Especially in periods of Crisis, I believe artistic expressions vitalize us: despite we can feel overwhelmed, Arts 'paint' our lives making us travel (if we read), reflect (if we approach to visual arts) and still hope, indeed.

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Simon Armitage

You have picked me out.
Through a distant shot of a building burning
you have noticed now
that a white cotton shirt is twirling, turning.

In fact I am waving, waving.
Small in the clouds, but waving, waving.
Does anyone see
a soul worth saving?

So when will you come?
Do you think you are watching, watching
a man shaking crumbs
or pegging out washing?

I am trying and trying.
The heat behind me is bullying, driving,
but the white of surrender is not yet flying.
I am not at the point of leaving, diving.

A bird goes by.
The depth is appalling. Appalling
that others like me
should be wind-milling, wheeling, spiralling, falling.

Are your eyes believing,
believing
that here in the gills
I am still breathing.

But tiring, tiring.
Sirens below are wailing, firing.
My arm is numb and my nerves are sagging.
Do you see me, my love. I am failing, flagging.

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Simon Armitage

Simon Armitage

From Out of the Blue (Enitharmon Press, 2008)

Reproduced by kind permission of the publisher, Enitharmon Press

About this poem

The poem-film Out of the Blue is a response to the fifth anniversary of 9.11.

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Out of the Blue - 12 by Simon Armitage | Scottish Poetry Library

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Simon Armitage Simon Armitage From Out of the Blue (Enitharmon Press, 2008) Reproduced by kind permission of the publisher, Enitharmon Press About this poem The poem-film Out of the Blue is a response to the fifth anniversary of 9.11. Podcasts Our audio programme of poets, poems and news for you to listen to.