Unlocking Poetry's Universe

Poetry's universe is enormous, but, unfortunately,  there are a lot of poets, especially women, who are known in their mother country or city, but in other countries they are almost unknown. Lots of poets are unknown and underrated, too.

One of the most important poets of history is Emily Elizabeth Dickinson. She was a shy and nonconformist woman, who wanted to express her soul in poetries. Reading Emily Dickinson's poetry, we don't fall just in the past, we fall in her mind. Her poetry is universal, she didn't talk about a specific subject, she wrote about love, nature, culture, life and loads more. She was a living poetry, because poetry can be described as a look on our inner world and the real world seen by our inner eyes. Everything can be described as something different, everything has more meanings: it's not what we see, it's what we think that makes the difference. Today we can see a rose in the distance and ignore it, but tomorrow we'll look back at it and listen to her thoughts.

Some people think poetries are useless. "They always talk about the same things, and the same emotions we all feel" they say. That's not true, poetries say a lot about the person who wrote them and their vision of the world, so every poetry is different. A living poetry is a living interiority, and Emily Dickinson's say a lot about her ideas, different from the society from which she "escaped", like she's still alive.  "Solitude has its own beauty", Emily Dickinson would say.

Here is one of her poems:

I lost a World - the other day!

Has anybody found?

You'll know it by the Row of Stars

Around its forehead bound.

A Rich man - might not notice it -

Yet- to my frugal Eye,

Of more Esteem than Ducats -

Oh find it - Sir - for me!

In my opinion, Emily Dickinson wants to honor the beauty of little magnificent things, which were more important than money for her. Rich men may not notice the beauty, for example, of stars, but hers were fascinated by Mother Nature and all the gifts "she" gives to us. 

This short poem is a proof that potries are like autobiographies- but we must have a key to understand them. 

Poetry is also a powerful instrument to criticize. Giuseppe Ungaretti, an Italian poet, felt very sad while watching his dead mates during World War I, so he wrote short poems to express his contrasting emotions and to criticize the war. "M'illumino d'immenso" can be considered an hymn to happiness and hope, the sun lights and comforts his melancholic heart. He, like Emily Dickinson, honors little things. While she concentrates on the night and the light of the stars, maybe symbolizing solitude; he concentrates on the day and the light of the sun, probably symbolizing life and a new starting.

This comparison shows two different interiorities. In fact, poetry hides and shows, leaving a trace in readers' minds, like a sweet music playing in the distance.