11-05-2013, 06:08 AM
Quote: Maybe all poetic composition is just a revolt, a defense against the anxiety that is endemic to human life, a scream in the dark towards one's own finitude, a rally cry against the inevitability of death.
Though I wouldn't call poetic composition a revolt myself (I don't necessarily feel that creation has to be an agressive act), I do recognize that it's often a way of coming to terms with death. The act of writing then is a way to find some sort of comfort for oneself, and hopefully some comfort for the reader as well. If artists in general have a "role" then I would say it's just that: as a comforter to others. Of course this doesn't mean that poems should be all mushy and "happily ever after", quite the contrary, I often find a lot of relief interacting with bleak and/or ambiguous art.