Potentiality of Poetry

(A)

The proposition calls for a cool enquiry for a two fold reason: First, the poets often arrogate to themselves the power to mould society and second, persons of light and leading also pour empty encomiums on the value and power of poetry to change society. If this brief article strikes a discordant note, the writer would humbly apologise, both to poets and their admirers.

The supreme fact has to be borne in mind that ever since the birth of poetry, poets have, by and large, essayed to give to the world of their very best with a two-fold intent: to please and to “instruct”, that is, to edify man morally. And Poetry has justified itself only because it has contributed to lifting man out of the dull and drab routine of everyday existence. Even so, history cannot provide any single instance when Poetry has transformed society. No period of history has been destitute of good poetry as it is understood. Nevertheless, wars and conflicts, bickerings and animosities have never vanished from the realms of human thought and action. The majority of readers of this reputed Journal are familiar with European letters and history; and they will, in all conscience, concur with me when I observed that Poetry, or Literature for that matter has been the expression of perception of life and world of a few talented individuals and that perception has never been able to transform the ugly face of man. Poetry has of a surety, been admired, but it has not proved its capacity to lift man out of the quagmire of ignoble motives and drives. Even today, an enormous amount of good poetry is being written, poetic symposia are being organised and tons of empty verbiage are poured on poets in their praise. But, the world is going its own way.

(B)

Public memory is proverbially short. But the intelligentsia might recall, no matter, with an amount of effort, how Soviet writers and ideologues during the thirties or so claimed the role of Architects of the human soul”, boosted by the phenomenal triumph of the Bolshevik Revolution. Writers composing literature of a non-conformist line and winning the prestigious Nobel award, were either forced to decline the honour or to court banishment from the land of their birth. But, the monolithic structure of the Soviet protected by an, iron wall, collapsed like a house of cards in consequence of the liberalisation ofthe state policy by
Gorbachev in the form of “glasnost” and “perestroika”. The ruling authority proved more potential than the best products of the literacy mind. At home, the much publicised novel policy of Globalisation of Economy has washed away all concepts of the Nehruvian era. There have been writers who have struck a dissentiate note, but their voice, naturally weak and diffident, has been a cry in the wilderness.

(C)

The foregoing brief discussion leads us to hold that transformation of the social set-up or the state tenor of functioning cannot be accomplished by poetry or letters for the matter of that ... awards and honours bestowed on literary geniuses notwithstanding. The ruling authority holds the key to any transformation in the social set-up or the popular tenor of life.

It will be downright folly, however, if we attach the entire credit of human progress to the powers that be during a particular period of time. The essential enlightenment of the human kind has been the gift of religious forces, despite the draws coming to surround them in the practical domain on the popular level. Man has lived ever since his first rise on the terrestrial plane a two-fold life: External and Internal, or in the Biblical language, life of the flesh and life of the spirit. The former has been subjected to social and political upheavals, but the latter, the internal life, has always been moulded, more or less, by a belief in some Transcendental Power, call it by whatever name you please. And, that faith in a Supra-­human Entity, omnipotent and omnipresent has lent an edifying orientation to human thought and feeling and also action, though in a limited measure. The end-result has been that man has consistently, despite temporary set-s, continued progressing from age to age in mental enlightenment with a spiritual leaven, at any rate, faintly colouring it.

But all the same, the external manipulations and material pulls have proved more potential than the inner enlightenment of man. Lack of correspondence between the internal enlightenment and external crystallisation of behaviour has been the bane of human history.

The modernists decry the rituals and ceremonies obtaining in society under the umbrella of religion as manifestation of what they call “superstitions”. But, let it be brought home to them that these superstitions are not blind beliefs, both “popular” beliefs, embedded in the soul from times immemorial and they have conduced to protection of the human psyche from falling into the limbos of utter philistinism. Man does not live by bread alone ... this teaching has silently governed mankind and the rise on the face of the ugly earth of an array of temples, churches, masjids et cetera represents man’s inner faith in that Extra-­human Reality which has prevented him from utter relegation to levels of beasts.

Coming to the main point, it has to be conceded, willynilly, that Poetry or “belles-letters”, chiefly concern of the spirit, cannot effect any tangible transformation in human dealings and norms of behaviour. Now where does Poetry stand? Stand between the Ruling Authority and Religion? To use an unpalatable expression, poetry keeps hanging like the famous pauranic “Trishanku” between the two contradictory pulls. Trishanku, a celebrated scion of the famous Solar Dynasty, aspired after reaching “Swaraga” in his material frame which violated the sacred provisions of the scriptures. Vashishtha, the traditional “Guru” of the family, declining to perform the necessary “Yajna”, Vishwamitra, his noted rival, undertook the responsibility, but failed to accomplish it as the doors of Heaven were closed by Indra, King of the Gods, which angered Vishwamitra and he stationed Trishanku in the skies between the earth and the Heaven, surrounding him by a new galaxy of resplendent stars. In likening Poetry to Trishanku, my meaning is quite clear. Poets and Poetry have acquired a halo round themselves by tradition because of their touching the inward springs of the human soul somewhere whose natural aspiration is to rise higher and higher, far from the madding crowd of demeaning drives and appetencies, often alluring.

When I stress the basically internal aspect of poetry, I certainly do not hold that poetry can be created in a vacuum, out of “airy nothing” as the “Bard of Avon” has stated. It has, on the contrary, to take into cognisance the realities of life, its perception thereof which is of necessity, coloured by racial heritage and the ruling ethos of the age or the milieu. Thus, Poetry is moored into material realities, should have its eyes fixed into the earth to justify itself, but should “edit” them so to say, in order that it might serve as a catalyzing agent to refine and edify the human spirit. Wordsworth’s Skylark which remains “true to the kindred points of heaven and home”, in its upward flight to higher and higher altitudes, furnishes the best model for the poetic afflatus.

(D)

I think I have elucidated my stance with respect to Poetry. The social dimensions cannot be denied. But, more significant is the greater larger “Dimensions of Life” which, frankly, oversteps the social or temporal dimension. Accordingly, poetry should address itself to life as a whole, to life as a perennial entity, and poetry has gathered round it a perennial aroma only because of its capability of affecting the springs of the soul. Basically born of the inner perceptions, it should illumine in inward spectrum of the soul, and by so doing, paradoxically enough, it will perpetuate its tradition of illuminating the path of human enlightenment in an unobtrusive manner. If it awakens man’s sensibilities; renders man more sensitive to life’s problems, it will have accomplished its object True, the recognition and appreciation of these problems is contingent upon the poet’s faculty of perception which, in its turn, is coloured by his racial and personal acquisitions. That is not to be refuted, much less deprecated. The multifaceted, multihued, multi-dimensional perception of poets ... let me add, honest poets ... will unfold the richness of life and the richness of man’s possibilities of enlightenment.

Before closing our present enquiry, let us observe that commitment to any specific ideology, social, political or otherwise, runs counter to the essential spirit of the poetic Muse. The poet’s commitment should be only to his perceptions, his unbiased understanding of life, flowing round him and also as it has kept its stream flowing since its birth in the primitive past. The appeal of Poetry is internal and so remote, not immediate. Accordingly, the temptation to make immediate contribution to transforming or ameliorating society should be kept at bay. The sun cannot light your cigarette; likewise, Poetry cannot light the cigarette of the society. Its function is deeper and more lasting.