Poetry of the River Tietê

Authors

Rex P. Nielson, Brigham Young University
Dr. George Handley, Brigham Young University

Keywords

poetry, ethics of poetry, River Tietê, Mário de Andrade

College

Humanities

Department

Comparative Arts and Letters

Abstract

In an essay entitled “Quantity and Quality” written in 1990, Nobel Laureate Octavio Paz bespeaks the importance of poetry in our contemporary society. He contends that during classical times poetry provided an ethical code that significantly influenced the organization of society and government. Greek citizens memorized lines of Homer, Hebrew leaders quoted passages from the Torah and the Psalms, Roman Senators learned verse from the Aeneid, and Chinese emperors recited poems from the Shih Ching. “Our classics, apart from their being examples of formal perfection and sources of spiritual pleasure, were teachers of political wisdom for two millennia” (Paz 105). The ethics found in poetry, Paz argues, powerfully influenced societal formation and served as a mediating factor that helped to establish the proper relationships between man and his universe. But Paz laments that in many ways modern society has abandoned the ethics of poetry and has fallen out of balance.

Recommended Citation

Nielson, Rex P. and Handley, Dr. George (2014) "Poetry of the River Tietê," Journal of Undergraduate Research: Vol. 2014: Iss. 1, Article 576.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jur/vol2014/iss1/576