DOES POETRY MATTER?

Does poetry matter  in our life anymore? What do writers say?

In 2003, in an article in Newsweek, the author made an interesting observation - “It is difficult to imagine a world without movies, plays, novels and music, but a world without poems doesn’t have to be imagined”.  The author further noted “I find it disturbing that no one I know has cracked open a book of poetry in decades and that I, who once spent countless hours reading contemporary poets like Lowell and Berryman, can no longer even name a living poet.” 

The Washington Post published government data, indicating that today, fewer people read poetry than ever. 

Another writer pointed out that major newspapers no longer print or review poetry. Wrote Jonathan Yardley, the book critic for The Washington Post: “Contemporary American poetry is read by poets, by writing students, and by students of literature—and by almost no one else.”

The Importance of Poetry

Various writers have visualized the importance of poetry, in their own ways. To some, poetry has the ability to express the thoughts and emotions of a writer through flowing words. To others poetry is one of the most versatile vehicles of expressing human emotions, and describing experiences; Poetry acts as a universal transmitter of all thoughts, feelings, and ideas. As another writer observed “Poetry lives all around you. Poetry shares. Poetry heals. Poetry invigorates. Poetry speaks up. Poetry reveals. Poetry heralds changes. Poetry is what gives cognition to music. Poetry is a beacon, let it illumine the path”.

Some writers point out that poetry gives us a historical representation of what earlier generations found ‘beautiful, important, or profound’.Some marvel at the power of poetry to address a vast range of subjects like love, war, social issues, the beauty of nature and the love of God. All agree thatPoetry is a ‘timeless, resourceful art, which could serve to value the youngest or eldest of readers.’

Nature and poetry     One can find poetry everywhere hiding in nature--in the smiling flowers, shining stars, deep dark woods, still clear waters or the enigmatic mountains, but one needs to have eyes to see and the mind to perceive it.

Look what the great poet (Mahakavi)Kumaranasan (Malayalam) from Kerala had to say. In a poem dedicated to the Goddess of Poetry (Kavya Devatha) the poet feels her presence everywhere---‘in the slanting doe-eyes (of a beautiful woman) and in the hand-symbol of a sage in deep penance’------ ‘She at times bathes in the pool of unending tears of children who lost their mothers, or, at other times in the rivulets of blood shed by fighting warriors”. Unfortunately, in today’s world, we don’t have the time to ‘stand and stare’ or ‘see’ and reflect deeply on things that are not of immediate consequence to us.

How PoetryHelps

Writing and learning poetry still matter to us, even from a pragmatic point of view. Writer’s digest, a web forum dedicated to writing, has this to say

1. POETRY IS GOOD FOR DEVELOPMENTAL LEARNING
2. POETRY IS GOOD FOR DEVELOPING SKILLS
3. POETRY HELPS IMPROVE IDEAS
4. POETRY IS THERAPEUTIC FOR THE WRITER
5. POETRY IS THERAPEUTIC FOR THE READER
6. POETRY HELPS YOU UNDERSTAND THE SIGNIFICANCE OF WORDS THEMSELVES
7. POETRY HELPS YOU UNDERSTAND PEOPLE-  

 Why Poetry matters?

Some say ‘as civilization advances, poetry declines’ We know that it is change that drives human progress. Poetry too is no exception. Technology has invented other modes of self-expression. Despite technology, Poetry may still appear in newer and simpler forms; or it may not disappear altogether. “The poetry of earth is ceasing never” wrote Keats.

We need not look anywhere else to understand why poetry matters to us. While discussing the poetic history of  Assam, a writer  from distant North-east in India has beautifully summed it up “ Burdened with the complexity of the lives one leads, fretting over appearances, netted in with anxieties and apprehensions, half smothered in drift of tepid thoughts and tepid feelings, one may refuse what poetry has to give; but under its influence serenity returns to the troubled mind, the world crumbles, loveliness shines like flowers after rain, and, the further, reality is once more charged with mystery” .