This is Episode 23 of Poems to Live Well By.

Today's poem is "In Broken Images", by Robert Graves.

Robert Graves was a prolific writer who worked through much of the 20th century. He fought in the First World War (and was seriously injured in the Battle of the Somme) and lived to the age of 90.

This poem is about the will to knowledge, about misplaced confidence, and about the danger of being certain. It calls to mind an idea that seems to have been popularised by a Stanford professor Paul Saffo, who encourages us to have “strong opinions, weakly held”.

As Saffo says, we should “allow your intuition to guide you to a conclusion, no matter how imperfect.” We should “engage in creative doubt, seek information that doesn’t fit, or indicators that are pointing in an entirely different direction.”

You can read the poem here.

Music Credit:

Once Upon a Time by Alex-Productions | https://onsound.eu/