“People need poetry more than they need bread. They need that their life should be a poem. They need some light from eternity. Religion alone can be the source of such poetry.” -Simone Weil

Poetry is not bound to form but can be any writing that uses language in a musical way to evoke deep emotions and thoughts rather than just to deliver information. Effective poetry is sticky, words are used in a way that captures the imagination and will be remembered.

There are writers who describe a trivial subject with an abundance of words, adding many big words and a heavy sprinkling of adjectives and adverbs. There are other writers who have learned how to arrange a few simple words in a way that sheds light on a complex subject. That is poetry.

G. K. Chesterton was a master of poetic prose. For example: “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.” and “It is absurd for the Evolutionist to complain that it is unthinkable for an admittedly unthinkable God to make everything out of nothing, and then pretend that it is more thinkable that nothing should turn itself into everything.”

That is why many passages of the AV/KEV Bible remain embedded in the collective memory of much of the English-speaking world. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness. The darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” This passage, the first four verses of John’s Gospel, uses mostly one syllable words. Yet it conveys a powerful, important message.

When Simeon met the baby Jesus he said: “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.” The words are simple, but for centuries people have reacted as Mary did, keeping these words in their hearts and turning them over in their minds. That is poetry, words used in a way that the effect lingers long after they are first heard.

Modern translations of the Bible claim to make the meaning more clear. I don’t believe they do, but I’m not going to address that point in this article. What the new translations do is lose the music, the magic, the eternal light from heaven that shines through the words of a proper translation of the Word of God.

The translators of our 1611 Bible knew two things: 1) they were dealing with the Word of God and dared not tamper with the meaning; 2) most people of their day would not be able to read the Bible at home, They either were illiterate or could not afford the price of a printed Bible. The only Scriptures available to them were those read in church; thus the words needed to be such as would find entrance into the heart and the memory. The goal of the translators was to make the Word of God available to the greatest number. “Translation it is that openeth the window, to let in the light; that breaketh the shell, that we may eat the kernel; that putteth aside the curtain, that we may look into the most holy place; that removeth the cover of the well, that we may come by the water.” (From The translators to the reader, the long introduction to the 1611 Bible,)

The grand old hymns of the faith were not grandiose. Isaac Watts wrote simply, straight to the heart, and prompted soul-searching by many generations of Christians:

Am I a soldier of the cross,
A foll’wer of the Lamb?
And shall I fear to own His cause,
Or blush to speak His name?

Such a message can be sung anytime, anywhere and will not be enhanced by instrumental accompaniment. The worship teams in many contemporary churches overpower words with amplified instrumental sound that stirs the emotions, but leaves no message in the heart.

We need the poetry. Man does not live by bread alone, nor by fleeting impressions made upon the emotions.