Why is poetry important in general?
A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:Its loveliness increases; it will neverPass into nothingness; but still will keepA bower quiet for us, and a sleepFull of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.Therefore, on every morrow, are we wreathingA flowery band to bind us to the earth,Spite of despondence, of the inhuman dearthOf noble natures, of the gloomy days,Of all the unhealthy and o'er-darkened waysMade for our searching: yes, in spite of all,Some shape of beauty moves away the pallFrom our dark spirits. Such the sun, the moon,Trees old and young, sprouting a shady boonFor simple sheep; and such are daffodilsWith the green world they live in; and clear rillsThat for themselves a cooling covert makeAgainst the hot season; the mid forest brake,Rich with a sprinkling of fair musk-rose blooms:And such too is the grandeur of the doomsWe have imagined for the mighty dead;All lovely tales that we have heard or read:An endless fountain of immortal drink,Pouring unto us from the heaven's brink.The above is the first stanza from John Keats’ Endymion. I don’t have anything in particular to say about the poem, but when talking about the importance of poetry, I felt compelled to include it because the poem as it exists itself is important and a thing of beauty.I’m not particularly well versed in the study of poetry, or even literature on the whole. I read books, I read poems, I come up with my own ideas, but it is for the joy of it, not academic exercises (I realise the two can be one and the same).So, as such, it wouldn’t be for me to write about the importance of poetry from an academic standpoint. I could try, but I wouldn’t do it justice, and points I might highlight would be far better found in books on poetry, or even here on Quora.Instead, I will simply talk about why poetry is important to me, and therefore why it might be important to you.To me, poetry is using condensed language to tell a story. It distils feelings down to their rawest state, compressing the language and displaying it in an almost formulaic manner.It causes your perspective to shift and your interpretations to mutate. Feel things more intensely. It goes beyond the seemingly human capacity to write or perceive or paint it, to the point that it reaches across from your soul to the soul of the poet.It’s that feeling that gives poetry its inherent importance.
Why do people write stories on questions that can be answered with a couple of sentences?
Sometimes, though there is a simple/direct answer,there are additional details and/or information that will make the answer more complete, or provide a greater understanding.In other cases, analogies, examples and “stories” can help provide context, clarity or avoid ambiguity.Admittedly, some people do appear to go off at a tangent,sometimes answering a question that wasn’t asked, or traversing borderline topics that barely pertain.And then there’s responses like Tor Gausen’s - that had me in stitches :D
Do you have a story about a Saint?
This isn't really a story about a saint, but when I was about to leave my crazy abusive husband and also worried about my son, I had a dream that I was sitting on a bench, and a man came and sat next to me. I started to notice little spots of blood coming through his suit and getting larger, and he said to me "Don't worry, it will be ok," but he meant that I would be ok, not that I shouldn't worry about him. And just before I woke up, I realized it was Saint Sebastian talking to me, bleeding from where he was shot with arrows. I'm not a Catholic, but it was the most comforting dream I've ever had.