Are You a Hero or a Poet?

On the Archetypes of Temptation

“There was neither a hero nor a poet on Odysseus’ ship. A hero would withstand without being tied, without wax in the ears. A poet would jump overboard even when tied. A poet would hear even with wax in the ears.”

—Marina Tzvetaeva

Russian poet, Tzvetaeva, offers us an archetypal dichotomy between hero and poet:

Heroes are strong-willed and poets weak-willed.

Heroes are disciplined and poets are prone to follow their fancy.

Heroes plan. Poets deviate.

David Perell writes that creatives can operate in either “coffee mode” or “beer mode” which maps onto hero vs. poet mode, respectively. Coffee mode bucks no distractions. Beer mode welcome them. Coffee mode places wax in the ears. Beer mode follows the call of the sirens.

The hero is a go-getter, but misses out on serendipity.

The poet lives in the moment, but lacks commitments.

Religious traditions distinguish between those who suffer temptation but overcome it and those who are so well-trained that nothing can tempt them to begin with.

Animating this distinction is a debate about who is more saintly—the person who triumphs over their demons or the person who has eradicated them entirely and knows no friction?

Most of us would say the person who overcomes adversity—the Most Improved Player—is (psychologically) superior to the person for whom everything is easy—the Most Valuable Player. Thus, Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler says that we will be judged and rewarded in the Next World not for our spiritual achievements (where we end up), but for our spiritual delta (how far we’ve come).

At the same time, when you attend a concert, you don’t want to hear from the most improved violinists, but from the best ones. As customers, we value heroes over poets (we typically don’t care about what happens in the kitchen as long as the food tastes good).

So, are you most comfortable in the mode of hero or poet?

Do you regard the song of the sirens as a threat to your plan or an opportunity to grow as a person?

When will you accept the wax and the ties and when will you open yourself to the inspiration of the new, come what may?

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