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The Purpose of Poetryby John F.Masare T.S. Eliot, the well known British Poet, points out in his "On Poetry and Poets" that - "Poetry may have a deliberate conscious social purpose". With all due respect, I would go further and say that it should have this purpose. As a child, growing up in northern California, I suffered to a certain extent because poetry was certainly not seen to have any proper purpose. It was airy fairy, fey, ephemereal. Nothing to do with real problems in this all too real world. In the beginning, as Eliot notes, it was not so. Poetry was used for what "Modern" man has chosen to call "magical" purposes. It is, of course, still used for these purposes in many parts of the world. Somewhat later, in the Greco Romawera, it was used by such well known poets as Virgil for such prosaic matters as farming techniques. Poetry has been applied for centuries; even millennium, for spiritual, philosophical as well as scientific matters such as Lucretuisi poetic treatise on the properties of light. As recently as 1980, in Tanzania, an anthology called Summons was published in which poets addressed the burning socio economic issues of their day. Many of these problems are of course still with us now. The robust hybrid known as infotainment has shown that it is possible to have your cake and eat it as well. One can be entertained by lively, imaginative turns of phrase while at the same time being alerted, or reminded, of the pressing issues of our own times whether they be political, environmental, economical or some other form. Rap has fired the imagination of a generation because it has managed to mix some pretty devastating social observatos with an equally devastating blend of rythm and rhyme. Last week, I had a go at a certain generation for it’s par showing at the recently held youth festival for peace. This week, I’d like to close with a cautionary word for my fellow poets and rappers in town. Having a message is important. Getting it across is just as important .. And if that means slowing down to where most of your audience can make out what you’re saying - is that so bad?
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