Failure Quote by John Berger
““Poems, even when narrative, do not resemble stories. All stories are about battles, of one kind or another, which end in victory or defeat. Everything moves towards the end, when the outcome will be known. Poems, regardless of any outcome, cross the battlefields, tending the wounded, listening to the wild monologues of the triumphant or the fearful. They bring a kind of peace. Not by anaesthesia or easy reassurance, but by recognition and the promise that what has been experienced cannot disappear as if it had never been. Yet the promise is not of a monument. (Who, still on a battlefield, wants monuments?) The promise is that language has acknowledged, has given shelter, to the experience which demanded, which cried out.””
About This Quote
Source Essay: Ways of Seeing, John Berger, 1972
Poetry offers a different kind of solace by acknowledging suffering without offering easy comfort, acting as a witness to experience.
In simple terms: Poetry acknowledges pain.
Key Takeaway
Find comfort in honest reflection.
Themes
art
poetry
war
memory
healing
Mood
thoughtful
somber
Type
literary
philosophical
When to use this quote
- memorial services
- therapy
- creative writing
- historical study
Key Concepts
narrative
recognition
existentialism
Questions to Reflect On
- How does acknowledging pain help healing?
- When is silence more appropriate than poetry?
A Different Perspective
Poetry may not provide concrete solutions.
![“There's the artist's intimacy and truthfulness to himself, but an equal intimacy to the Other [the one drawn]. Picasso drawings are like that... the Rembrandts are like that. The artist who most often did that was Van Gogh.” quote by John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/0d1/john-berger-1590_art_there-s-the-artist-s-intimacy-and-truthf_155171.jpg)
