Poetry Makes You Weird.

The author, an English professor, discusses using poetry to inspire creative thinking and empathy, and argues that reading poetry makes people weird. Poets such as Emily Dickinson, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and John Keats are mentioned, and issues such as poets' identity, aesthetic appreciation, and poetic imagery are discussed. Imagination in poetry, the metaphor of light as inspiration, and poetic ethics are discussed, and the literary philosophies of ancient Greek philosophers Aristotle and Plato and poet Matthew Arnold are described.