World Poetry Day 2022: Know History, Significance Of The Poetry Day

World Poetry Day was adopted by Unesco during the 30th General Conference in Paris in 1999 with an aim to support linguistic diversity through poetry

World Poetry Day (Getty Image)

New Delhi: Poetry is a form of art and literature that gives a window to the world and helps us understand and appreciate the nature as well. March 21 is celebrated as the World Poetry Day, and people across the globe honour poets who have inspired the newer generations for poetry.

Poetry is also a powerful tool for change that can inspire, flower a new relation, mend broken ones and create harmony with the surroundings.  Poetry is not just good for souls, but it became an instrument to voice protest against social issues in the past.  

However, people have started to lose interest in poetry in a world filled with technology where more advanced ways of conveying messages of art and beauty have emerged.

Indian poetry scene is also filled with renowned poets starting from ancient vedic times to modern day. There are poets who wrote in different languages starting from Vedic Sanskrit, Hindi, Odia, Maithili, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada to Bengali and Urdu.

India saw emergence of prolific poets including Kabir, Kalidasa, Mirabi to Mirza Ghalib, Amir Khusrow, Rabindranath Tagore and many more.

What’s the history of World Poetry Day?  

World Poetry Day was adopted by Unesco (United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization) during the 30th General Conference in Paris in 1999. The idea behind this day is to support linguistic diversity through poetry.

Poetic expressions allow us to promote and spread teachings from different languages. The approach is to preserve endangered languages and make more people aware of treasured forms of cultural and linguistic poetic expressions.

Various events are held across the world to honour poets, revive oral traditions of poetry recitals, and promote reading, writing and teaching of poetry. The celebrations are aimed to foster the convergence between poetry and other arts such as theatre, dance, music and painting, and raise the visibility of poetry in the media.  Schools, colleges, and other educational institutes organise poetry competitions to keep the celebrations going.

What’s the message from Unesco on the occasion?

"Arranged in words, coloured with images, struck with the right meter, the power of poetry has  no  match. As an  intimate  form  of  expression  that  opens  doors  to  others,  poetry  enriches the dialogue that catalyses  all  human  progress,  and  is more necessary than ever in turbulent times,"said Audrey Azoulay, director-general on the occasion of 2022 World Poetry Day.