Let us take a chance with a Poet. Once elected to the post of a Premier, the Poet will start with his love for Romance. There is every possibility, he will make visits to Delphi, England and Egypt, rather than America or France for purchase of weapons and fighter planes.
Dr. Jernail S. Anand
The world is weary of scholars in general, and poets in particular, and hesitates to consider them for political positions like the Premier. Some of the great Premiers adored contemporary poets, although they themselves were no poets. For example. George Washington adored Phillis Wheatley, Thomas Jefferson was a fan of Thomas Moore. Abraham Lincoln adored the poetry of Irish poet Robert Burns and John F. Kennedy adored Robert Frost. So, loving Poetry is one thing, but being a Poet Premier, quite another.
Perhaps, it shows the trust deficit of the general public in poets who are looked upon as men of unsteady mental disposition. How can people think of having such a person in the position of a Premier? Let us not forget Plato who dismissed the Poet from his Republic. A Poet as the Head of a Republic will raise Plato from his grave. Did a Poet ever get a chance to rule, even in Egypt or Rome, where poetry was in such transcendence? Did England where poets like Shakespeare, Wordsworth and Eliot were born, ever give a chance to a Poet to rule the country? Yes, they made Laureates of them. When Wordsworth was Laureated, Robert Browning had written the famous poem: ‘The Lost Leader’. He was not wrong. Making a poet a laureate simply meant giving a vaccine of inaction, and non-speech, and rendering him passive about human suffering. Thereafter, he is free to write about bees, cuckoos, rivers, mountains and keep roving in valleys. But, not a word about the evil that is rampant in society. The vaccine is so strong, that injustice, corruption, drugs, terror which mark public life, never touch the heart of a Laureate. No wonder, no poet aspires anything beyond this.
No political party can support the poet, because he believes in Universalism. In final analysis, the world cannot risk having a Poet as a Premier. So, they offer them Laureateships liberally so that their penchant for political power, recognition and sense of self-importance could be satisfied.
The highest virtue of poetry, or you may say, of a Poet is ambivalence, abstraction and obtuseness. Poetry is considered a higher virtue over prose or fiction, simply because fiction and prose are objective while the field of poetry is entirely subjective. The absolute confusion about the meaning of Poetry afflicts the life, choices and decisions of a Poet. A man for whom clouds are more romantic than a sunny day, cannot be entrusted with the destiny of a nation which needs clear vision and hard decisions.
POET AND THE GHOST OF HAMLET
A Poet has an inborn capability to confuse things. The ghost of Hamlet haunts him day and night. To be or not to be. If the mind is forked like this, a Poet cannot but meditate on whether to stop near the woods, or pass [Stopping by Woods], and one cannot decide which road to take [The Road Not Taken]. The Poet’s mind is obsessed with kings and queens like Antony and Cleopatra, and “her infinite variety”. For a Poet, the journey is more delightful than the destination and indecision, more productive than decision, which finally forces us on a collision course with real life situations.
Of late, we have seen Premiers who can project lies like oracular truths. A Poet too weaves an unreal web to project truth. But this is too whimsical an equation between the two and does not go far. Politicians are far more accomplished in tailoring lies, than Poets are at lyrical fiction. The comparison ends here, because a poet has no ulterior motives, like the politician, who has “no interest unborrowed from the eye”.
POET AS A LIABILITY
One major point of deviation which freezes the chances of a Poet as a Premier is that, while the society considers poetry an asset, the poet is considered a liability. No wonder, ninety percent of the poets are part-timers. Such passivity of character does not become a Premier, who is expected to don an aggressive life-style.
Read: Of a Civilization in the Quick Sands of Time
This liability becomes most untenable and beyond tolerance during a national emergency. When the country is face to face with a threat from the enemy, and when action is the need of the hour, the Poet may start composing a poem of amity and send it to the commanders on the other side. The most popular governments which mass-produce weapons of war, would not like such silly behavior from a Premier. What finally kills in the battlefield is not a word, but a sword. The Poet who tries to kill evil with words is decidedly a liability for the upcoming world.
TAKING A CHANCE WITH A POET
Let us take a chance with a Poet. Once elected to the post of a Premier, the Poet will start with his love for Romance. There is every possibility, he will make visits to Delphi, England and Egypt, rather than America or France for purchase of weapons and fighter planes. There can be a resolution in the Parliament that the proceedings will be recorded in verse. All the Parliamentarians will be taking courses in versification. And in the towns, bronze statues of warriors will be replaced with Shakespeare, Milton, Chaucer and William Wordsworth. Too much emphasis on poetry, truth, virtue and beauty can create a grave crisis for general public. No political party can support the poet, because he believes in Universalism. In final analysis, the world cannot risk having a Poet as a Premier. So, they offer them Laureateships liberally so that their penchant for political power, recognition and sense of self-importance could be satisfied. Shelley who regarded poets as unrecognized legislators of the world, it appears, took a bite too big to be chewed. [My apologies to the great master, because it is all tongue-in-cheek].
Read: Alfred Domett: poet and premier
________________
Dr. Jernail Singh Anand, President of the International Academy of Ethics, is author of 161 books in English poetry, fiction, non-fiction, philosophy and spirituality. He was awarded Charter of Morava, the great Award by Serbian Writers Association, Belgrade and his name was engraved on the Poets’ Rock in Serbia. The Academy of Arts and philosophical Sciences of Bari [Italy] honored him with the award of an Honorable Academic. Recently, he was awarded Doctor of Philosophy [Honoris Causa] by the University of Engineering and Management, Jaipur. Recently, he organized an International Conference on Contemporary Ethics at Chandigarh. His most phenomenal book is Lustus: The Prince of Darkness [first epic of the Mahkaal Trilogy]. Email: anandjs55@yahoo.com
Link Bibliography:
a quizzcal, but insightful peep into the role and significance if a writer a grim reminder thatnhe should not be lured by the so called laurels doled out to stop him from speaking the truth. His integrity as a writer should not be kept at stake..
The Poet As A Premier theme in question indeed needs objective and analytical study.The words Poet and Premier are poles apart semantically then how does this question of “as” arise at all? The poets are uncrowned kings and rulers in their domains of imagination,creativity,
versatility and recreation.The poets can fly like free birds,can the premiers afford to do so? The true poet even if offered an opportunity to slip into the shoes of a premier will not be able to continue for long but will like to quit as soon as possible.So the comparison is uncalled for, though just for the sake of academic deliberations it is fine to absorb in parleys.
Prof PK Sharma
Freelance Journalist
While largely what you said is true, there have been exceptions. In the golden age of Indian history King Samudragupta was an accomplished poet and musician besides being a warrior par excellence. Then in late 20th century, Noor Mohammed Taraqui, a poet, became President of Afghanistan. But he was murdered. Recently we had Atal Behari Vajpayee , a popular Prime Minister of India, who was an accomplished poet. Walt Whitman called the poet, true son of God who will come to rule the world after all other options have been tried. Be that as it may, your apprehensions are right that a daydreaming poet is not fit to be a premier. However a dreamer only can redeem us from the mess we are in.