Great Sayings on POETRY - 4
PALANA (nparinand@cas.org)
Fri, 30 May 1997 12:24:10 -0400
"We insist in the face of a hostile majority that reading, writing, and
ciphering does not complete the education of a poet. The analogy to science is
close. A poet, like a scientist, is contributing toward the ORGANIC DEVELOPMENT
of CULTURE. It is just absurd for him not to know the work of his predecessors
or of men writing in other languages as it would be for a biologist to be
ignorant of Mendel or De Vries. IT IS EXACTLY AS WASTEFUL FOR A POET TO DO WHAT
HAS BEEN DONE ALREADY, as for a biologist to rediscover Mendel's discoveries.
The French poets in question (Corbiere, Laforgue, Rimbaud) have made
"DISCOVERIES" in verse of which we can not afford to be ignorant, discoveries
which are not merely a concern for French syntax. To remain with Wordsworth is
equivalent to ignoring the whole of science subsequent to Erasmus Darwin."
--T.S. Eliot.
Take Home Lesson: Sanskrit Poetry influenced Telugu Poetry (of course Telugu
Poets) for centuries as a result earlier treatises emerged. In minor cases,
poetry in other vernaculars influenced Telugu poetry (which in turn incorporated
the influx of Sanskrit poetry). What Eliot said fits in with the Organic
Development of Telugu Culture upto some extent on a culturoliterary time scale.
Where does the Telugu poetry fit in now? Are some poets still trying to
redisvoer what has been done? Are the poets still influenced by poetry in other
languages? How many of them visit poetry in other languages? What is the current
growth of Sanskrit poetry? What is the current growth, development, and
evolution of Sanskrit poetry-based Telugu poetry? Has Sankrit poetry-based
Telugu poetry attained climax and reached the dead end on the Telugu Poetry
Phylogenetic Tree?
My well-wisher warned me that I am posting too many a day, related to this
series. This is my only post for today. I will leave this for IMBIBITION.
--pAlana
Opinions above are mine only.