“Poetry is finer and more philosophical than history; for poetry expresses the universal, and history only the particular”. –Aristotle
Poetry speaks for all and touches our hearts. The poignant art of expression is celebrated worldwide on March 21 as World Poetry Day.
Poetry goes on to show that despite the divisions and disparities, much of what we feel and experience is similar and so is our relation with the nature. On this day every year, poets are honoured, attempts are made at reviving oral traditions and promoting the art of reading and writing poetry.
History
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) decided to celebrate World Poetry Day annually on March 21 during its 30th General Conference in Paris in 1999.
It was earlier celebrated in many places in October, which continued even after the UNESCO’s 1999 session. Some countries still celebrate poetry day on October 15, on the birthday of Roman poet Virgil who is famous for his epic poem Aeneid.
Significance
Most of the UN member nations now observe this day to converge the art of poetry with other creative art forms like theatre, painting and dancing. Efforts are also made to increase the “visibility of poetry in the media”.
According to the UN, this day is devoted to support “linguistic diversity” by means of “poetic expression”. This in turn also gives voices to poems of endangered languages.
On this day, children are introduced to the art of poems. Several government bodies and cultural authorities organize exhibitions of poems and their creators.
Many poets hold signing events and recitals. Shows invite poets to talk about their work and spread awareness regarding the form. The day salutes small, independent publishers who believe in unknown poets and bring their work in front of the global audience
Schools and other educational institutes do hold poetry competitions to observe the World Poetry Day.
