I had the bright idea yesterday to see what was in the last chapter of _Poetic Knowledge_. I started reading this heady book at the first of the year, but I was stymied by the second chapter (actually the first, but I was a little stubborn and refused to admit it until the second). I set it down months and months ago.
It is the kind of book that fits well into a day of hurry-up-and-wait, containing meaty insights that beg contemplation in every sentence. I carried it with me yesterday as we went from class to p.e.-type activity to class to doctor's office to clothing store, and read from it whenever I had a moment. I started again at the intro, and then, because I found the philosophical foundations so difficult to digest last go-round, I decided to see how the book ended. In Chapter 7, the author (James S. Taylor) gives ideas on how to apply the poetic mode to various subject-areas. I often have to be shown some outworks before I understand how the principles fit into place. Here are some quotes I highlighted from the introduction and the last chapter:
P. 2 "A Teflon spatula is useful, at least for a Teflon pan; but a wooden ladle, of curved and smoothed wood, is not only useful but beautiful. The first is scientific, in the modern sense, reduced to its most base utilitarian level... while the second tool is crafted from the poetic mode of life."
P. 4 "Is poetic knowledge and education possible in a society given over to the mere practical and utilitarian ends of life?"
P. 4 "Poetic knowledge is a kind of natural, everyman's metaphysics of common experience. It is a way of restoring the definition of reality to mean knowledge of the seen and unseen."
P. 169 "...Put as simply as possible, science sees knowledge as power; poetic knowledge is admiratio, love."
2 comments:
P. 2 "A Teflon spatula is useful, at least for a Teflon pan; but a wooden ladle, of curved and smoothed wood, is not only useful but beautiful. The first is scientific, in the modern sense, reduced to its most base utilitarian level... while the second tool is crafted from the poetic mode of life."
I threw all my teflon in a drawer and use mostly wood. Hubby is going to be crafting the perfect wooden ladle for me. We looked at several all over the country this summer, but it comes down to one that I've drawn.
*That* is why I thought of you when I was reading this time. I knew all about the ladle. ;o)
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