Nietzsche on the origin of poetry

Poetry makes communication more complex - it "mocks expediency and utility." And yet it developed all over the world. Doesn't the "wild irrationality of poetry" refute utilitarianism? No, Nietzsche says - poetry actually has deep utility 👇

Nietzsche is no fan of utilitarians. He says "they are right so rarely that it is really pitiful." But this time, he says, "I have to side with the utilitarians."

Poetry's origin was superstitious. People noticed "men remember a verse much better than ordinary speech." They hoped Gods would find their requests more memorable too, if expressed as poems.

Gods were far away, and "a rhythmic tick-tock was audible over greater distances." Thus rhythmic poetry was an attempt to "get closer to the ears of the Gods."

Rhythm is compulsive - "not only our feet follow the beat but the soul does, too." Perhaps the soul of the Gods responded to rhythm too? Nietzsche writes: "Thus one tried to compel the Gods by using rhythm and to force their hand: poetry was thrown at them like a magical snare."

Misfortune was considered a consequence of angry Gods. Rhythmic music and dance calmed people down - perhaps Gods too could be placated this way? The idea was to "push the exuberance and giddiness of the emotions to the ultimate extreme" and come out the other side.

Etymologically, the word melody comes from melos, which also means a tranquilizer. Music, dance and melodic poetry are tranquilizers not because they themselves are tranquil, but because their "aftereffects make one tranquil."

Nietzsche points out that Apollo is a God of both poetry and prophesy. The original meaning of prophesy was to bind the future in a certain direction, and the right poem heard by the right God could do just that.

Nietzsche says rhythm "enabled one to do anything - to advance some work magically; to force a god to appear, to be near, and to listen; to mold the future in accordance with one's will; to cleanse one's own soul." Very little could've been more useful.

Bottom line. Poetry emerged as a useful tool, not just as an amusing past-time. It tranquilized chaos. It cut through time as people remembered it for long. It cut through space as it travelled long distances. And for the superstitious, it was a direct line to God.