Learn all about the Poet Personality Type including a definition, characteristics, examples and how it relates to archetype personality types.
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What is the Poet Personality? (Short Answer)
Poets are imaginative, creative, and intuitive.
They often see the world in a unique way, and they’re able to express their vision through writing or other forms of art.
Poets are usually deep thinkers and feelers, and they often use their work to explore the emotional side of life.
They’re also typically introspective and sensitive, which can make them prone to bouts of depression or insecurity.
However, this also makes poets highly compassionate people who are able to empathize with others’ experiences in a way that few others can.
They have a deep appreciation for beauty and truth, and often find themselves lost in thought, questsing for knowledge or artistic inspiration.
They are gifted communicators, using their Words to paint pictures that evoke emotion and connect with others on a deep level.
Poets are gentle souls who sometimes need time alone to recharge their batteries.
Poet Personality Explained (Long Answer)
Lyricism and sharp insight combine in the Poet, who sees beauty and truth in everything from the great epics of humanity to the most mundane of everyday activities and objects.
In addition to lauding historic occurrences and heroic acts, great poetry often conveys amazement at the unseen pleasures and sufferings that the rest of us tend to miss.
To have this as one of your archetypes, you don’t have to be a published poet, but you do have to be motivated by the desire and capacity to discover and express to others the beauty you see in the people and things around you.
Songs and poems produced in favor of military aggression or genocide are examples of the work of the shadow Poet, who uses his poetic ability gift for destructive or evil purposes.
Poet Personality Characteristics & Traits
Read on to learn more about the key Poet personality characteristics:
1. They are internally motivated
Poets are renowned for their ability to motivate and inspire themselves.
The best poets and writers are driven by their failures, experiences, and heartaches; they want to share the misery, insights, and information with other people so they can live happier lives.
Internal or intrinsic motivation is one of the most important human characteristics for achieving any level of success in life.
That is to say, if you pursue anything for your own internal motivations and rewards, you will be more likely to be successful in your endeavors.
If you’re attempting to keep up with the latest trends or impress others (external motivation), your motivation will decrease in the long run.
2. They are creative and curious
Poets are open to the idea of creating a whole new world.
In addition, many feel the urge to write every day — whether it be poetry, a blog post, private journaling, or even lengthy emails to friends and family.
Creativity is the ability to come up with new ideas or solutions to problems.
Curiosity is the desire to learn more about the world and explore new things.
Both creativity and curiosity are important for innovation and growth, and poets have an abundance of it.
3. They have something to say
We all have feelings that are deep, important, and difficult to name, and the poet’s job is to express these feelings in such a beautiful way that people can’t live without it.
The Poet, like the Child and the Artist, is driven by a desire to find and share beauty. In the way they express themselves and feel about things, there is an element of vulnerability in their work.
The Poet combines poetry with astute observation, seeing the core of beauty and truth not just in humanity’s grand epic events, but also in ordinary actions and things.
Examples of the Poet Personality
Here are some examples of the Poet Personality in popular culture and literature:
Films
- Glenda Jackson in Stevie
- Philippe Noiret in Il Postino
- Sean Connery in A Fine Madness
Fiction
- The Basketball Diaries by Jim Carroll (shadow)
Religion/Myth
- King David – ruler of Israel credited with writing many of the Psalms
- Orpheus – great musician and poet of Greek myth, capable of charming wild beasts
- Bragi – in Norse myth, the god of eloquence and patron of poets
- Finn Mac Cumhail – legendary Irish hero and leader who was also greatly skilled as a poet
