A Writer's Purpose

[Metro Jacksonville]

A Writer's Purpose



Riverside writer Jared Rypkema takes a look at the Irish poet Seamus Heaney and explores the idea that writers should, 'Write in service of the truth.'


Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2013-mar-a-writers-purpose-

[ronchamblin]

Thanks Jared.  What a pleasant piece to wake to.  You’ve urged me to read some of Heaney’s work.  The words written or spoken with these simple truths in mind sway most readers and listeners to an awareness of our common origins.  Thank goodness we have writers like Heaney, who remind us of the simple things in life. 

This same kind of focus on simplicities in life, regarding children, family, and neighbors, is engaged by some preachers, one being Joel O’steen.  These reminders of simplicity take us back to childhood, when we thought simple patterns, when we believed all was fair, and nobody would harm us.  I don’t mean to place Osteen on a level with Heaney, as the latter is not in it to make millions of dollars, but they both engage similarly with ideas about love, nature, childhood, family, and neighborhood simplicities.  And as you’ve mentioned, there is no talk about politics or current social issues.

Although the expression of simple truths are to be admired, it seems that some additional skill is required if one might wish to extend these simplicities and fundamental truths up into the realm of social realities, into government and business.  This engagement of fundamentals into the realm of politics and social concerns, is not an easy thing to do , but it is needed because most individuals in our society, through habits of thought, through attempts to survive, through attempts to become rich at all costs, have allowed excessive untruths and complexities, outright lies with no bounds to the degrees of them, to be the norm in our dealings with others.

So….. yes, the beauties and truths, as expressed by Heaney and O'steen are needed for the occasional consumption as reminders of the basics, but we sorely need more writers -- leaders actually, who are able and inclined to express these fundamental truths up and into the real worlds of government, business, and social issues.  The degree to which this is done by our elected leaders, by our business leaders, and by our academic elites, just might determine the quality of life in our society in the long run.

Should the poet become a politician?  Perhaps that might be a good beginning for a politician, much better for the world than to have a young fellow being groomed for politics by other politicians.   

     

[Adam W]

Should the poet become a politician?  Perhaps that might be a good beginning for a politician, much better for the world than to have a young fellow being groomed for politics by other politicians.   

     

Funny you should say that! The current President of Ireland (Michael Higgins) is a poet and author.

[ronchamblin]

Should the poet become a politician?  Perhaps that might be a good beginning for a politician, much better for the world than to have a young fellow being groomed for politics by other politicians.   

     

Funny you should say that! The current President of Ireland (Michael Higgins) is a poet and author.

Then there's hope for Ireland Adam Whiskey.  And we might remember the Czech playwrite Havel who become the president of Czechoslovakia.