For the ancient poets in Bharat starting from the great sage Valmiki, literary activity was not an end – in – itself. Their aim was to make use of art and literature in order to maintain the lofty nature of our ancient culture that has always stood for the promotion of common good. It is usually narrated that Valmiki was prompted to create the great classic, ‘Ramayana’, the first – ever poetry in the world, on account of the grief that afflicted him by the pathetic sight of a hunter shooting dead the male of a pair of birds with his arrow that caused the female bird to shriek in agony. But even before this experience Valmiki had decided to undertake a literary work intended to promote social good. He had already consulted sage Narada as to the best of the heroes of that time to stand as a role model of Karma yogis devoted to the cause of social welfare. Inspite of his being an ascetic he did not consider the great ascetics of the day for his purpose. Instead, he chose Rama, the king of Ayodhya as the champion of social good. His aim was to project the ideal of selfless service as the backbone of dharma in individual and social lives.
Thus the ancient poets’ intention was to promote culture through the medium of literature by setting the exalted lives led by great men and women as ideal patterns. Forsaking the idea of ‘art for art’s sake’ they diverted the purpose of art in order to achieve a greater ideal of human life. Although art was used merely as a means for another end, there wasn’t any deterioration either in quantity or quality of art production. The stupendous growth of art and literature in India remained unsurpassed. Their superior quality as well as prosperity eclipse others of their kind globally. The works of Kālidāsa, Bhavabhuti etc remain world – renowned even today. Most of the art and literature that followed were based on the epics and the puranas. Large number of interpretations of the classics and their translations arose in various languages.
The poetry of the olden times were mainly narratives of our own glorious heritage in order to maintain the spiritual and moral content of its culture. Hence the compositions were more theme oriented. Yet the poets of those days took care of the style and mode of poetry as well. Valmiki who initiated the mode of poetic composition decorated it with various rhetorical devices. He adorned the lines of his poetry with the help of figures of speech such as simile, rhyme and meter. The majestic as well as alluring nature of the tale coupled with lucid style characterize his expression. The merit of simplicity and clarity of expression is that, what the poet intends to convey and that which the readers grasp are one and the same thing. This indeed is the main purpose of language.
By the time of the 2nd half of 20th c our poets were attracted by the new ideas of the modern age. But these poets were also committed to the lofty ideals that catered to the well – being of society. Some of them were inspired by patriotic feelings, others reacted against social injustices, greedy exploitation of Nature etc. Although they were influenced by the new global trends originated in the west their writings contained social values relevant to our present needs. Their poetry was imbibed with valuable appraisals of life and society and also with suggestions for rectification. Thus it carried elevated visions of life as well as social criticism.
But with the advent of post – modernism towards the end of the 20th c the field of poetry started drying up. It moved away from social themes and became increasingly self-oriented. Its natural consequence is most of the poems today are unsubstantial in nature. The chief characteristic of poetry today is over – enthusiasm for creating novelty. Every poet is excited over finding his own way of producing unique and unconventional pieces. As a result, poets have become so self-centered that they quite unabashedly have started demolishing the age – long spiritual and moral contents of poetry. Just as some people are fascinated by fashionable dresses and ornaments poets of today are obsessed with producing unconventional unusual poetry. For the purpose they go on experimenting continuously with the exterior form of poetry. They have lost interest in society and have no more any messages for it. They consider social responsibility as a hindrance to their self-oriented passionate expressions. On account of constant experiments with style, the form of poetry has lost its identity.
The Old and the New
Beauty is an ideal that characterizes art and literature in general. Poetry is born when an idea or imagination takes in beauty and gets emotively expressed. That being so, even unattractive and unpleasant scenes assume appealing shapes. But today the tendency is to depict even pretty forms as distorted ones. This is in accordance with the post – modern notion that even deformity should not be marginalized. Over – extending the concept of equality beyond desirable limits the post – modernists set out to equate ideas of binaries such as reason vs passion (the rational and the irrational), good vs bad, beauty vs ugliness, freedom of sentence vs that of words, creative writing vs literary criticism etc. They even venture to bring these binaries upside down in order to project the hitherto marginalized ideas. This kind of irrational tendency of post – modern thinking abuses great ideals that are conducive to cultural progress. This forms the basis of destructive criticism or deconstruction of the revered ancient texts that contain spiritual and moral ideals. In poetry the tendency is to bring down the ideal of beauty by projecting its opposite in the name of portraying reality as such. Here it is ignored that our experience of beauty is as real as ugliness. Actually, the poets are enamored with post – modern ideas because they want somehow to create novelty. They welcome all sorts of fresh ideas and abhor the old ways of thinking. How it affects the field of art or culture is none of their concerns.
As time changes, we would have new ideas, experiences and situations. Yet the tools we use in poetry are the same old ones – the sky and the ocean are invariable, like wise are the rain and the wind, so are the light and the darkness. Even the earth, though highly polluted, stays olden. In language we may add new words but and new meanings, but grammar remains the same. New ideas arise in the brain, but the brain and the heart in biological terms still continue as such. Even the substance of intelligence, mind and emotions are consistent; anger, love and jealousy are the same old ones. Thus the basic realm of our life and experiences continues through the peripheral changes. Can the shallow poets of today who have lost even this vision make any valuable contribution to literature?
The nature of our experience is quite messy, then why should we bother about orderliness in poetry? This is the kind of thinking widely entertained by the post – modernists. They are unaware of the fact that a genuine person is one who maps out the aim of his life, finds order amidst the chaos of his experience and arranges his thoughts, emotions and activities accordingly. How can a man who cannot even determine his own way of life claim any superiority in the evolutionary sequence of species? Such a human condition isn’t progress but deterioration. As the Existentialists point out, an authentic human being makes choices as to how to lead his life. He is not led by life, rather he leads the life. To take the reins of life in his own hands is the chief characteristic of the ‘being, of man according to the Existentialists. But the post-modern poets enjoy the fathomless turbulent stream of life. Just as a man who can neither swim, nor has a rudder is carried away by the violent currents of waters, the post-modern poets are swept away by the wild stream of experiences and are unable to find the meaning and direction of life.
Meter and Rhyme
The structure of poetry plays an important role in arousing aesthetic enjoyment. The number of syllables in a line and the pattern of stressing them constitute the metre of a poem. The form of corresponding sound or rhyming is also a pattern relied on by poets to make the lines appealing. Both metre and rhyme determine the rhythm of poetry. Rhythm is the distinguishing literary mark of a poem that renders its meaning sound beautiful.
Traditionally poems were expected to be in established forms having patterns of meter and rhyme. But with the advent of the post-modern age poets began experimenting with free verse and prose-poetry. Free verse is the name given to poetry that doesn’t use any strict meter or rhyme pattern. It allows greater freedom of expression; the poet is free to determine the form and style of his poetry. He can focus more on the content of poetry rather than on its external form. But it has brought more harm than benefit. Now anybody can write poetry since it is free of set meters and rhymes. As a result, there is a leap in the number of poets, but the number of poetry enthusiasts is rapidly diminishing. That is, poetry has become so unpopular. Talent and proficiency in poetic language are rarely seen today.
The essential feature of a poem is its rhythm. Even the poems devoid of meter and rhyme should have an inherent rhythm since poetry is born rhythmic. It is the expression of poetic talent. The usual distinction between poem and prose is that poem is metered and prose unmetered. There is another variety called prose-poetry which is also unmetered. Prose – poetry should have an inner rhythmic pattern for every line which takes even more skill. The unique feature of poetry in general, whether metered or unmetered, free verse or prose – poetry, is its inherent rhythm. But what are see today is, free verse and prose – poetry both are deficient not only in metre but in inherent rhythm as well. To cover up this defect, poets recite their free verse using artificial melodies. But melodies are important for songs, what is needed for poetry is rhythm. It is a pity that incompetent free verses often fall into prose – poetry and incompetent prose – poems turn into monotonous dull prose. The cumulative result is, poetry has lost its unique identity and appeal.
Grammar and words
In poetry grammar is not explicit, yet it must be implied. But today’s poetry is mostly deprived of grammar. In ancient India there were two prominent views of linguistic philosophy known as akhanda vada and pada vada. According to the akhanda vada of the Grammarian school sentence is the real unit of language. As per the padavada of the Nyaya system the power to convey meaning lies with words, they are the ultimate meaningful units of language. But the Grammarians argue that the proper meanings of words are contextual and so they need sentence to convey them. Nyaya on the other hand argues for the independence of words. In the West during the end of the modern period Ferdinand de Saussure and Noam Chomsky followed the Grammarians whereas the post – modernism of Jacques Derrida argued for the independent power of words.
Now most of the post-modern poets believing in the immense power of independent words, simply assemble words at random heeding no attention to grammar or linguistic propriety. Such poetry is incapable of conveying meaning and remains incomprehensible.
Art is part of culture
Culture connotes the way of life of a society revealed through its accumulated knowledge, beliefs, customs, religious practices, art, literature etc. These form the important ingredients of culture in that they influence each other. Now we see poets under the influence of post-modern idea of unlimited individual freedom, moving away from social responsibility. They have become so self – centred and over – ambitious. They are severely affected by materialistic desires, excessive sentimentalism and sexuality. Some of them are interested in deconstructing the traditional values stamping them as blind beliefs. Proliferation of writings that are abusive of spiritual and moral values causes apprehension. Such destructive criticism against the nourishing components of culture pulls down both culture and society. An uncultured society cannot progress. Neither can art and literature advance since they are also part of culture. In fact, a poetry that attacks cultural values for safeguarding unfettered individual sensuality, is suicidal.
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