Poetry combines people, culture, nature, and history. It’s such an art form which creates an abundance of feelings and emotions and inspires to change the perception of life
Tasneem Hossain | Dhaka
Poetry is one of the most beautiful forms of expression that portrays life in its variety. It combines people, culture, nature, history and study. It’s such an art form which creates an abundance of feelings and emotions and inspires to change the perception of life.
‘Epic of Gilgamesh’ is believed to be among the earliest works of documented poetry. It appeared in 2100 B.C.in Babylon. Through centuries countless types of poems have emerged in different eras and undergone transformations. Ballad, elegy, haiku, ode, sonnet, villanelle pantoum and free verse are just a few forms of poems. Whatever the type of poem the fundamental purpose remains the same: explore human existence and existential dilemmas of mankind and invoke powerful emotions through words.
Poetry has been practiced from time immemorial in every culture worldwide. It speaks of beauty, nature, life as it is and shared values, transforming the simplest of poems into a powerful catalyst for mercy, hope and peace. Poetry, one of humanity’s most ancient and treasured forms of cultural and linguistic expression, is celebrated worldwide on 21 March on World Poetry Day every year.
UNESCO first adopted 21 March as World Poetry Day during its 30th General Conference in Paris in 1999, with the aim to support linguistic diversity and preserve endangered languages and forms of different cultural poetic expressions. The day is celebrated to honor poets, both past and present; revive oral traditions of reciting poetry, popularize poetry and cultivate habits of poetry reading, writing and teaching.
Some countries celebrate World Poetry Day on October 15 to mark the birthday of Virgil, a Roman poet who is famous for his epic ‘Aeneid’. April is celebrated as poetry month.
In ancient times, as common people used to speak the language only, the educated intellectuals of the societies wrote meaningful poetry that was easy to memorize. It was an integral part of almost all the societies because of people’s emotional attachment to the words spoken in poetry. Religious preaching, cultural myths and chivalrous stories in Greece, Rome, Persia, and Egypt were written in poetic form thousands of years ago. Thus, poetry also had sacred value in ancient communities. This literary form survived through ages of invasion and rise of new empires, as it was memorized by masses and orally delivered to their successors.
Read: How poetry is going digital
Poets used language in various ways that led to the enrichment and beautification of human minds with knowledge and philosophic understanding. The modern world is indeed indebted to the poets of the past. This rich history and the prominent role of poetry in the development and enlightenment of the world is reason enough to celebrate World Poetry Day.
The multifarious themes of poetry and its profound influence on human lives is undeniable. It sometimes speaks of truth, beauty, love, nature, hope and peace; creates awareness on social issues: women emancipation, child labor, human rights. Sometimes it works as a catalyst and is instrumental in uniting people to revolt against injustice, oppression, exploitation, corruption and in national revolutions.
Poets like Edmund Blunden, Rupert Brooke, Maya Angelo, Robert Graves, Progressive Poets of India, Pakistan and many countries played an active role to stop World Wars and Colonization through poems.
Kazi Nazrul Islam’s poems against the cruel, unjust exploitation and autocratic colonial rule of the British Empire in India are historic in building rebellion.
‘Bidrohi,’ ‘Notuner Gaan,’‘Karar oi louhokopat’ and many other poems and songs inspired the whole nation in building resistance against the Pakistani aggressors during Bangladesh’s war of liberation.
Maya Angelou’s reference to slavery and the boldness to rise even in the darkest of times is striking in ‘Still I Rise’:
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.
The serenity and beauty of nature in the following stanza has a calming effect on the human mind:
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze
– William Wordsworth.
Shakespeare’s ‘Sonnet 18’ instils strong emotions of pure love.
‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate’
The children’s ‘chora’ poems foster creativity and imagination in them from their infancy.
‘Hattima tim tim tara mathay paray deem, tader khara duto shing’
(This poem is about an imaginary bird with two horns which lays eggs)
The poem ‘Beer Purush’ by noble laureate Rabindranath Tagor tells a story of a little boy who is accompanying his mother through unknown lands. Attacked by robbers, he calms his mother, fights with them and makes them run away. It awakens the innocent mind to rise in the face of adversity and be brave.
Poetry is for everyone!
World Poetry Day on March 21 serves as a reminder of how greatly poetry has enriched and inspired the way we live our lives. Poetry is the artistic mastery of bridging our feelings and creating the ability to influence others. It allows us to see life from a new perspective.
The beauty of poetry, unlike other forms of literature, is that it doesn’t need much time to read. A poem can speak of a single moment or talk about a full life time in just a few verses.
Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO Director-General fittingly defined poetry on World Poetry Day in 2021:
‘Arranged in words, colored with images, struck with the right meter, the power of poetry has no match. This is the power to bring us together, to unite us around the same emotions, to allow us to escape even in lockdown – the value of poetry has never been more evident than during the past year. Poetry has the power to remind us of the beauty that surrounds us and of the resilience of the human spirit.’
Charles Baudelaire the French poet, essayist and art critic remarked, ‘Always be a poet, even in prose.’
William Wordsworth beautifully described poetry as, ‘…… the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.’
Poetry is music through words. It’s a beautiful combination of literary devices like meter, alliteration, assonance, consonance, onomatopoeia which come together to create rhythm and you can feel the inherent music. It rejuvenates the soul and fills our lives with energy and vitality. Poetry is divine in its own light.
Though there is a decline in reading books, the good news is poetry experienced a boom online even before the pandemic. Poetry blogs to online platforms to social media for poetry and its distribution have emerged on the internet.
Google Earth’s “Poetry Around the World” a multi-lingual platform joined forces with US literacy organization “Reading is Fundamental” to help users to enjoy poetry from around the globe.
Partner project “Literacy Central” enables teachers and students to read books and poetry written for children and young people.
The Poetry International (PI) Festival in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, is one of the major poetry festivals in Europe which has been visited by great poets like Pablo Neruda, Joseph Brodsky, Margaret Atwood, and Rita Dove.
The internet has become a place for young people to meet other poets and poetry lovers around the world.
There are many different ways to observe the day. You can celebrate the day by writing a poem. Organize poetry competitions, poetry slams, teach the art of writing poems, and spread awareness of poetry to the public in genera; attend the seminars and conferences arranged by governmental and non-governmental agencies, watch poetry presentations on TV or listen to poetry on the radio. Share your favorite poems on Social Media following the hash tag trends on Social Media: #WPD, #WorldPoetryDay, #PoetryDay.
Poetry is all around us. Poetry lets us see life in its different colors and shades. It is an ever flowing river reflecting all that surrounds us.
Poetry is life itself.
Read: Let’s Walk Together – Poetry from Bangladesh
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Tasneem Hossain is a multilingual poet, columnist, op-ed and fiction writer, educator, translator, and training consultant. She writes poems in English, Urdu, and Bengali. As an op-ed writer, she has authored over 130 articles. Her articles deal with day to day life events and deals with personal development issues; and creates awareness about social and human rights issues. Several of her articles and poems are utilized as teaching material in universities and academies across various countries; some have been referenced in university research papers by academics. She is author of three poetry collections—Grass in Green, The Pearl Necklace, and Floating Feather and a book of articles ‘Split and Splice’, she also leads an international poetry project and group called Life in Lyrics. Additionally, four more books are currently in progress. She served as a faculty member of Business English at Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology. Currently, she is the director of the prominent human resource development organizations, Continuing Education Centre (Bangladesh), and Cansaz Services and Distribution LLC (Canada). With 27 years of experience, she is a highly regarded Business English Language and Communication Management trainer.
