Poetry Can and Does Tell the Future

Dorothy Porter

“Like most poets I’m very superstitious. The poetry of Yeats’ ripples with visions, spells, alchemy and portents. Yeats not only believed in but also notoriously practised magic. He claimed unapologetically the ancient Celtic tradition where poets are akin to priests and magicians. A true poet was judged by magical results, such as could the poet conjure spirit voices or tell the future? Yeats’ own poetry claimed, and in the immortal way of poetry, still claims to do both.

My experience of poetry, in a terrifyingly personal context, has been that indeed poetry can and does tell the future …”