Dr. Abram Van Engen, a professor at Washington University in St. Louis, was welcomed to John Brown University this week, Monday, Oct. 21, to speak on his new book “Word Made Fresh: An Invitation to Poetry for the Church.” Engen’s talk kicked off what JBU President Dr. Charles Pollard dubbed a “week of poetry” at JBU.

Engen explained before starting that his talk and book was “for poetry lovers and the creation of poetry lovers.” With this introduction he opened his speech by breaking down a 2017 survey from the National Endowment for the Arts that showed that only 12% of adults in the US (nearly 28 million people) had read poetry that year.  

With only a small percentage of Americans claiming to read poetry it appears as if the importance of poetry has been greatly diminished in the western world. Yet, Engen attempts to argue for its continuing importance in the modern reader’s life.

While so many claim that they do not read poetry, Engen invited the audience to reevaluate what readers might consider poetry. While many people might not know many poems by heart, Engen argues that if someone knows any songs, children’s books or even rap songs by heart, they are encountering poetry. Even further, if anyone has been to church recently, they have encountered poetry through the liturgy, hymns and scripture of a regular church service.

“Poetry is not only something we already practice and use and love, but it is something that is made for us,” Engen said. “God made us with poetry in us.”

Engen believes that poetry is important in the lives of the modern reader.

“We don’t exactly need poetry but for many people life is much poorer without it,” Engen said.

His solution to this lack of interest in poetry is that readers should read more poetry.

“If you think poetry is not for you, maybe what [you] need to do is read more poems,” He said.

Engen offers up a few tips for diving into poetry. His first is to simply “read it.” Second, one should read personally. Engen believes that someone cannot “read a poem without it landing somewhere in your life.” He explains that once a person begins reading, they should then start reading for pleasure, reading poems that as he says “befriend” and resonate with you, with the hopes that one might find a love for poetry.                                              

Photo courtesy of Emmanuel Phaeton on Unsplash