A fun fact I have noticed recently in Helsinki – more artists start to address themselves as “poet”, no matter which discipline of art they come from (music, theatre, painting, etc.).

I come from a linguistics and literature background, where “poet” has a more text-based image. When relating to other forms of art, music is usually considered as an ideal way of poetry-making, instead of the other way round.

Thus, I start to think about why poetry has become a goal for artists of different disciplines – what are poets for?¹

 

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…poetically man dwells…

 

We are living in a destitute time.

This “destitution” is not material poverty but a spiritual impoverishment in the modern age. Modernity, for Heidegger, is an era in which metaphysics, technology, and rationalism have reduced the world to calculable objects, thereby severing humanity’s relation to Being – nothing appears as sacred, mysterious, or given.

Being is not a substance, but a process of revealing and concealing. Humans do not produce Being; rather, we belong to this event.

Our task is to listen, to dwell, to let Being disclose itself:

 

Language is the house of Being. In its home man dwells.²

 

Language is where meaning lives – where things in the world come to light for us.
We do not just use words to describe the world; through words, the world itself becomes understandable.

For example, when we say “tree,” the tree does not just become an object – it enters our world of meaning. We see it as something alive, rooted, growing, offering shade, etc.

Without words, the world would still exist – but it would not mean anything to us.

Thus, language is like the house where meaning and understanding dwell. It shelters our relationship to the world.

Poets are like guardians of this house, who keep language alive and meaningful. They help us remember what it means to be human, to live on this earth, to belong to something larger than ourselves.

In the modern world, we started to treat language like a tool – a way to label things, give orders, or share data.

This makes language flat and mechanical. When it happens, our relationship to the world becomes cold and instrumental – we see nature as a resource, people as numbers, life as a machine.

Poetry resists that.

Poetry brings language back to life. It makes us slow down, listen, and feel wonder again. In this way, poetry reopens the “house”, reminding us that words can still carry mystery, depth, and truth.

Poets are needed precisely when they seem least useful.

Imagine language as a house where humans and meaning live together.

In this technological age, that house is falling apart – the windows are dusty, the walls are bare.

The poet comes along, opens the windows, lets in the light, rearranges the furniture, and invites us to dwell again – to live meaningfully, not just functionally.

Nowadays we are used to treat everything – even language, nature, and art – like a tool or a product. We use words just to get things done, and we look at art just to be entertained.

While the poet resists linguistic reduction to information, the artist resists aesthetic reduction to consumption. Where the poet revitalises language, the artist revitalises perception and experience.

The artist reawakens the meanings of forms, colours, sounds, gestures, and spaces.

An artist’s job is not only to make beautiful objects. It is to make us see the world differently – to open our eyes to something we have forgotten or overlooked.

For example, a piece of music might make you listen to sound and silence more deeply; a performance might make you question how we live or relate to others in the society; a painting might make you notice light or colour in a new way.

Their work can remind us how to live meaningfully – not just efficiently.

They remind us that there is mystery, beauty, and meaning all around us – not just usefulness or function.

 

1. “What Are Poets For?” (“Wozu Dichter?”) belongs to Martin Heidegger’s later philosophical period, where he reflects on language, poetry, and the crisis of modernity. The essay meditates on the role of the poet – particularly in an age of technological nihilism and spiritual desolation. ↩︎
2. Heidegger, “Letter on Humanism”, 1946. ↩︎