It was best said by John Keating (Robin Williams) in Dead Poet's Society:

We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, "O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?" Answer. That you are here - that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play *goes on* and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?I guess it would uplift some people....."Scotty Doesn't Know" said it best! I had an opinion, but his just blew mine out of the water!mainly it benifits you and releases stress but with the rights words you could change the worldi think mainly because it throws a beautiful light on everything,even things that happen over and over again.....and most of the times it even makes us see a thing completely different form how we used to.....just imagine how many poems have been written about love, none of them alike, most of them beautiful in its own way....i think specially the poems that touch the timeless topics like love ,pain , longing,searching for truth, grief and so on ,are the best ones...because they are the same among all people,no matter where they live or when.