Daniel Krumland

Arturo Navarez
E316K 34640
9 / 26 / 09
Two-Page Paper #1
“Education by Poetry”: The Art of Believing

Robert Frost resides as one of our country’s finest poets. He deems that genuine poetry
isn’t cleverly crafted with the end in mind, but is believed into existence from the very
beginning. This argument holds true and overlaps into not just poetry, but any form of an
aesthetic practice. The word belief, according to Merriam-Webster, means, “a state or habit of
mind in which trust or confidence is placed in some person or thing”. To truly believe is to know
without reason as a guide.
Why do humans create art? Are there any practical purposes to composing music,
paintings, and poems? Surely, humans don’t need art to survive. What causes the visual, auditory,
and literary/linguistic phenomena we know as art? Belief. The feeling, absent of vertical thought,
which resides in our world’s greatest artists and compels them to create and compose not for
fame or fortune, but from belief. The presence within an artist which provokes them to create
something beautiful without being asked; the reason artists are artists in the first place coincides
with the very belief which Frost refers too.
This “creative spirit”, as this belief could be referred to, shows itself everywhere. Take
our planet, the Earth, for example. Scientists have assumptions about how life came to be, but
nothing retains any certainty on the subject. The universe is made up of inanimate organic matter,
yet you, the reader, sit and consciously understand the words in front of you. What practical
reason drives the miraculous wonder of living, growing matter? The universe doesn’t have an
agenda, it just is, and behind our existence lacks the answer to the question, “Why?”; the same,
“Why?” asked of artists and poets. The belief they have parallels with the universe’s tendency to
create. The fact that there is something to be had, whether it be a sentient life form aware of
itself, or a piece of music which moves the listener in ways previously unimagined, consists of
the belief that Frost talks of and so well knows of himself.
Even though this belief appears to have no reason behind it, upon closer inspection a
paradoxical conclusion presents itself. A person wouldn’t need to hear music, read poetry, or
view paintings and sketches to sustain themselves biologically, but humans do so anyway. Most
would agree that enjoying art is for just that, being in joy or for the pleasure of it. Art brings
about an appreciation seemingly divine for the imagination and creativity that accompany it. If
anything, art’s purpose appears to be for one of enjoyment. Who’s to say that this isn’t a practical
reason? One’s mood or emotional state coincides with your health, either directly or indirectly, as
science is starting to reveal more and more, so using art as a source of pleasure resounds as an
almost more than practical, but essential action with valid justification backing it. Through this
belief comes reason.
 If one can sustain oneself with attention to spare, why wouldn’t one choose to experience
joy and contentedness? Why would someone in his or her right mind not want happiness? I can
think of no answer. For the purpose of happiness, this belief is. Could the feeling Frost talks
about be the abstract of your mind and body’s unison leaning toward content? Unfortunately, to
most scientific standards, no valid ways exist to experiment with and test what Frost is talking
about.
One conclusion remains certain; the ability to create and the belief which occurs
simultaneously should be revered and honored. The act of creation is an infinite concept.
Revisiting the subject of the universe, we are from organic matter risen cellularly to a complexity
far beyond our own comprehension, and yet creation continues through us in art. Music will
never grow old. Visual art will never tire. Poetry and literature will never cease. If anything, all
of these will morph into completely new yet similar stimuli, and this calls for reverence. The
innate creative nature of everything around us tends to be overlooked in day to day life, and this
could explain why artists are drawn towards their fields. True artists see the beauty in all life, and
realize that they themselves are also that same life, and are capable of creating ethereal emotions
and formless euphoria which parallel to our existence in essence. Instead of, “Why?” as to their
ventures in composition and creation, they reply, “Why not?”. Perhaps art exists as a helping
hand to the next step in our evolution. Who’s to say that tapping into the formless belief which
seems almost natural isn’t what we should be doing? If everyone was more in touch with the
simple yet unfathomable being of belief inside them our world could rise to a level of
synchronous harmony previously thought impossible. At first glance, art and the reasoning
behind it seem trivial, but one must look hard and deep to unveil the perplexingly genuine
relevance of true art and the inspired belief which coincides with such a both tangible and
intangible aspect of life.