By: Priyanka Saurabh
The French poet Jean Cocteau states that “the poet does not invent he listens”. Poets keep a mirror of the real world. Thiruvalluvar says, “The gems of a country are these five: wealth, agricultural productivity or harvest, happiness and good defence, without pestilence or disease”, here the poet expresses the key things a country should pay attention to. Aristotle explains that “Courage is the first quality that makes all other virtues possible”. They express their desire or idea about the future of society or how society should be organized.
There would be no society without a poet. The act of creation may be done in solitude, but it does not remain hidden. Whether their poetry is written or sung, poets play a very important educational role. MPs make laws based on public opinion, but who makes public opinion? The poet is a self-proclaimed spokesperson for the public, giving a message in his poetry. The poetess, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, wrote the poem The Cry of Children. It had such a profound effect on the minds of the people that Lord Peel’s ministry passed a law banning the employment of young children in factories under certain conditions.
American poet June Jordan says, “Poetry is a political act because it involves telling the truth”. The expression of poets gives voice to the truth of the world. For example, the Romantic period in England coincided with the social changes of the Industrial Revolution, the rise of liberal movements and revolutionary measures of the state, and the voices of radical ideas – parliamentary reform, expanded suffrage, abolitionism, and atheism – exhibited in pamphlets and public. Vachan movement in Karnataka, where poets like Basavanna articulated words that still resonate in relevance today.
The Ramayana is an epic that goes into detail about the complex relationship between truth and dharma – which can be broadly described as moral justification. In a way, it corresponds more to humans and their psychic transactions than to a divine story. The epic revolves around Rama, an incarnation of Dharma, who, due to his multiple roles, faces challenges in behaving according to Dharma and circumstances in life. Poets can establish laws and create new material for knowledge, determining the role of poets as legislators. Kautilya claims that money earned by proper means is justified and that accumulation of wealth was a safe way to save people from famine. Therefore, most of the valuable philosophies needed to make the world moral and just were found in the minds and works of the poets.
Poets are ‘unknown legislators’, as their role in the progress of society will not be publicly recognized. History studies ancient societies mainly through the eyes. It is through reason, but also through imagination, that we can identify the beauty in the world, and such perception or realization leads to the creation of great civilizations. Poets, then, are the builders of civilization. The world does not think that poets are making laws. They do not sit in Parliament. The laws made by him are not written in any statute book. But they create an atmosphere, create a strong public opinion, and do everything else.
The poet does not even ask for recognition, he does not get a mandate from the public; He gives them the mandate. He does not campaign for his vote in the election. He doesn’t get any votes. He creates the atmosphere with his living thoughts. Bible hymns have shaped the lives of Christians for centuries. Lord Krishna became a poet and his Gita is in poetry. The Gita and the Bible have been a beacon to guide the conduct of countless millions in this way. These moral values are spread by those who do not even believe in religion.
Every artistic medium has its limits – you can’t smell a film, you can’t hear an idol. These sensations are suggested through other mediums such as food and movies. Yet, the poet explores this sensation only through language, through the symbols on the page. Thus, the poet’s solution may seem more possible on paper than in reality. For example, a poet named Iqbal gave the idea of Pakistan to the Muslims. Some said that it is the imagination of the poet, a flight of imagination. But within ten years, Pakistan was established and the poet’s dream became a reality, with the enthusiastic support of the Muslim masses. The idea became questionable with the formation of Bangladesh, even though the poet had created a state.
Laws made by legislators become obsolete and inappropriate; unjust laws are repealed. But a poet, like a nightingale, sings because the world listens to him at the behest of the heart. The poet is a legislator in the parliament of man. They assimilate the thoughts into the mind of the world and the thoughts travel. (The author is s Research Scholar in Political Science, poet, freelance journalist, and columnist)
