Poetry, Literature and Philosophy on Life


Right: Pessoa's portrait. Fernando Pessoa's Tobacco Kiosk is a sublime poem about the meaning of life.



Are philosophy,  poetry and literature separated areas?

NO. Much poetry glosses over life and its joys, fate, destiny, our place in the Universe, illusion, pain without reason and the cruel element of life. To philosophise on the meaning of life is part of the repertoire of dozens of great writers.

A proof that some literary texts can be closely connected to philosophy?

How to classify Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote text on human sleep? Is it mere literature and prose? Read it, carefully:

«Blessings light on him who invented sleep, the cloak that covers all human thoughts, the meat that satisfies hunger, the drink for the thirst, the heat that warms cold, the cold that moderates heat, and, lastly, the common coin that purchases all the pleasures of the world cheap, the balance and weight that equalizes the king and the shepherd, the fool and the sage»?
Cervantes

Isn't it philosophy, as much as poetry and prose?

Is poetry about the meaning of life too limited, too restricted for the transmission of banal philosophical equations?

NO. There is more philosophy in some literary texts than in many assumed philosophical essays. Profundity can be intimately connected to beauty, to art, to novelty, to the ability of the writer to touch our souls, our joy, our sadness, our astonishment, or his ability to open new horizons of awareness, rather than just abstract reasoning and argument. That’s why poetry and literature can be major vehicles of philosophising.

An example? Hadrian's words, on the very eve of his death: 

«Small errant soul, guest and companion of the body, where are you go now, pale, rigid and naked, without being able to play as before?»

Philosophy on life is often injured by pedantry and ostentation; that's not the case of some popular and ancient poetry...

An example?
The biblical verses present in the Book of Ecclesiastes:

«Live joyfully with the wife whom you love
All the days of your life of vanity
God has given you under the sun,
For that is your portion in life,
Among the labour days you have to support under the sun»

Note:
This page is based on Poetry and Philosophy essay

See also:

Literature and philosophy: quotes on life, lyrical reflections
Fernando Pessoa's philosophy on life and poetry
Links between poetry on life and philosophy on life
Poems on life: examples of philosophical poetry


Life and Friendship
Life and Love
Philosophies of life
Happiness
Life quotes - Existential thought
Life is a dream

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