The Sheer Beauty of Poetry
Poetry is the ultimate symbol of the refinement of the human culture. "Spontaneous Outflow of Emotions" Shelly defined poetry thus. Wordsworth said "our sweetest songs are that which tell of saddest thoughts". Poetry has been written and enjoyed eversince the languages were born. Poetry was the staple diet of courts of kings and the durbars of emperors. Poets were held in huge respect and pampered by the kings of yester years. The fine taste for all things literary especially poetry was prevalent in those days when the all the kings had to do was to sit back and enjoy poetry, jesting and tales of valour(Their Own!). Poetry really flourished in the post-christ era with great poets like Milton, Wordsworth, Keats, Tennyson, Shelly, Byron and the like enriching the English literature with their great works. In India too, literature and poetry flourished, greatly patronised by Kings and Emperors. The Great Hindu Kings of the Maurya,Chalukya, Chera, Chola and the Pandya kingdoms and the great emperors of the Vijayanagara,Maratha and such great kingdoms thorough out the Indian Sub-continent, were all unreserved admirers of poetry and contributed greatly to fostering great poets.
Poetry floursihed in almost all languages known to man. After the formation of the USA, English literature saw such great poets like Walt Whitman. The French revolution was permanently placed in the world map of great freedom struggles through the immense literary works of the great poets of the time. Poetry produced enhanced perception of romanticism, heroics, patriotism, sorrow and joy. The entire gamut of human emotions was brought forth through the magical pen of the great poets. Graduating from the tough old English poems of yesteryears, with its hard to understand imageries and ideas, today the modern poetry lays emphasis on simple language and great content.
Poetry often sparked off great debates as to what constituted good poetry.Several schools of thought came up with differing opinions. Poetry, some said, was the noblest of all literary forms and should not be vulgarised by making it easy to understand. But other pundits said poetry was to be enjoyed by all, the plebiscite and the aristocracy.
Even to this day, the debate rages on. But the real heartening thing is that Poetry thrives.