"the Two-Headed Calf": Poetry and the Experience of Being Human (Critical Essay‪)‬

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ARTISTS USE LITERARY AND VISUAL IMAGES TO REPRESENT MUCH LARGER IDEAS. For example, if we look at traditional religious symbols--the manger and the cross, the star of David and Moses' tablets--or even at the Happy Humanist as powerful metaphors, we can see that they invite us to explore many of the dynamic themes of human experience: birth and the struggle of families, death and sacrifice, morality and behavior, identity and attitude toward life, to name a few. But the arts help us understand ourselves in ways that differ from the rational methods of science and philosophy.