Poetry for the Thinker

Welp, I guess emo, English writing is my thing now.

Hi and thanks for stopping by!

Heidegger's 'Poetry, Language, Thought' was delivered to me today 

and the verses he starts off with, 'The Thinker as Poet', was

a pleasant surprise.

It's sweet and simple, yet packs so much food for thought.

My favourite verse goes as follows:

When the early morning light quietly
grows above the mountains...

　　　　　　　　　　The world's darkening never reaches
　　　　　　　　　　　to the light of Being.

　　　　　　　　　　We are too late for the gods and too
　　　　　　　　　　　early for Being. Being's poem,
　　　　　　　　　　　just begun, is man.

　　　　　　　　　　To head toward a star - this only.

　　　　　　　　　　To think is to confine yourself to a
　　　　　　　　　　　single thought that one day stands
　　　　　　　　　　　still like a star in the world's sky.

For those who haven't read Heidegger yet, his whole philosophy 

revolves around Being (Das Sein), which is very artfully articulated in 

this verse. Existing - why do we do it?

Let's decipher these lines together.

What's the theme that jumps out to you the most amongst these 

lines?

For me, it's the contrast between light and darkness. So I'll extract the parts that talk about light, and dark, separately to start off.

Light

- When the early morning light quietly

grows above the mountains...

- to the light of Being

- To head toward a star - this only.

- still like a star

Darkness

- The world's darkening never reaches

-  in the world's sky.

So the first line gives us the impression of a new beginning.

A fresh start of something that is unpredictable but hopeful.

The world in this poem is always associated with darkness.

What sort of 'world' could that be describing?

Similarly, Being is always associated with light. What is so bright about existence?

The gods have already come and gone, taking whatever enchanting 

stories they created with them. This could be referring to belief, to 

religion. They came and went, leaving us skeptical and making us deal with the world as it is, thus pursuing the truth about its mysteries 

rather than religious salvation. Could this belief-less world be the dark world Heidegger is referring to?

Being has not yet come. Yet Being's poem has just begun and it is 

named man. Man is Being's poem. Being has conjured man with its 

words of sincere ambiguity. We can see here that man is merely a 

verse weaved together by the language of existence. Which makes 

sense because 'I think therefore I am', sure, but also first and 

foremost 'I was therefore I am'.

To head toward a star - We are heading towards Being. I was, I am, we were, we are, but we want to Be. In other words, we want to continue 

existing in some way or another. Not in a religious sense where the 

soul moves on but in a sense more unknown. We have only just begun　

afterall.

To confine yourself to a single thought and to build on it is to build 

your legacy. It allows you to Be. In a dark world of meaningless 

thoughts and easy ideas, a thought that has been polished and 

refined over time gives more meaning and value to the thought. It will shine a new light on the dark world, closing the gap between us and 

the truth that has already been unveiled of religion and superstition, 

almost taunting us to discover it. 

That is to Be. And Being is the whole meaning of man.

That was my interpretation of this verse!

Thank you very much for reading this, it was a lot of fun to analyse.