I wonder why poets are sad. Is poetry salvation from misery? Or is everyone sad? And maybe we only notice it in the people who write: Sylvia Plath. Virginia Woolf. Charlotte Mew. So many. Is poetry just cathartic? Do people not write about happiness because it has no effect? Or are they afraid of happiness? Sara Teasdale. Anne Sexton. Richard Brautigan. Why so many? Does writing poetry cause sadness? Because one must reflect on misery to create emotive poems? Or do sad people write poetry as a form of release? Humans are addicted to sadness- Are poets more so? Are poets the most emotionally intelligent of humanity? Or are they merely able to describe them?
Us readers feed off the misery of them. Our creative fuel originates from the pain of poets.
I wonder why poets are sad.
The link between sadness and poetry has always been obvious and yet unclear. So many poets have taken their own lives- there must be a reason? Do sad people write poetry? Or does poetry create sad people?