Originally posted on The Word Wranglers Writing Group 2002
Scientists and historians observe and record as objectively and dispassionately as they are able, ever mindful of the need to distance themselves and their personal feelings from what they write.
The poet feels and records, striving to capture inexpressible emotions on paper. Like a tuning fork, he is sensitized to the emotions of those around him, vibrating in sympathy, absorbing and making his own their joy and pain. He writes out of his own deep personal need, to discharge the built-up feelings which threaten to overwhelm him. In doing so, he performs the service of not only voicing his own thoughts and emotions, but echoing those of others as well.
It may be because of this emotional openness that poets often seek solitude, lest they be overcome by the feelings of the crowd. The unthinkable alternative is to shield ones self, to build a wall and so become not only isolated, but less alive.