“What we seek is an encounter, not an explanation.’”

How do we understand and approach poetry? In this first session, Professor Van Engen helps us understand that poetry is not a puzzle to be solved, but an experience to undergo.

Main Points

• Poetry is an art of language that is all about body and soul. It is an art of encounter and experience, rather than understanding or explanation.
• The goal of poetry is to draw you into the beauty or the complication or the interest of the language itself.
• Poetry is for us, not just for experts. If we want to read poetry in the Bible and beyond the Bible—if we want to know why this art form exists, why and how God delights in it, and what it has to teach us or how it might transform us—we have to believe that poetry is for us and requires our engagement.
• Poetry is far more than meaning or message. Poetry is not a sermon or an essay, but rather an experience.
• Start with beauty. Poetry draws us in not through understanding, but through beauty. God does this as well.

Content Questions

• What is your previous experience with poetry, whether through scripture (Psalms, Proverbs, parables, etc.) or elsewhere?
• How have you thought about poetry in the past? Have you found yourself trying to “decode” poetry, or have you been drawn in through the experience?
• For what reasons do you think God included poetry in scripture? What can we understand about God’s character through his use of poetry?

Application Questions

• Recall a work of art you’ve loved—whether poetry or some other form such as literature, visual art, music, etc.—and reflect on how you first encountered it. How did it draw you in?
• Find a poem (you can find several options in the “Further Resources” document that accompanies this course or simply look elsewhere), and engage with it. Rather than trying to understand what it means, consider how it is attempting to draw you in through encounter and experience.