By Sumit Paul

Universities around the world are shutting down humanities programmes, saying they don’t lead directly to jobs. But education is not just about employment; it’s about shaping thoughtful, ethical, and empathetic human beings. Poetry, philosophy, and music humanise us.

Poetry makes us think, and what makes us think guides us. A poem is a hazardous attempt at self-understanding: It’s the deepest part of autobiography. Poetry is an ordinary language raised to the nth power. In any language, poetry is the most distilled form of that language. What’s stated in a poetic way always strikes deeper and more effectively.

Poets are critics and analysts of life. They’re also the chroniclers of lives and times. They’re the mouthpieces of the emotions that we all have but are unable to express. Poets do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. There’s an English adage: A poet is a prophet. Poetry is indeed prophethood ( Shayari PayambariAst : Jami).

The way poetry motivates and inspires all of us, nothing else does. Read Rudyard Kipling’s immortal poem, If . Recalling the poem makes us feel intrinsically good: “If you can fill the unforgiving minute, With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it, And – which is more – you’ll be a Man, my son!” Or read Patricia A Fleming’s poem, What life should be.

The immortal lines of the great Persian poet Rudaki, which he uttered in ancient Persian, “Dee az qeenmin taftan na nafrat un biqam /Jaan az shaa’fziyadan pahloo riqam” –how can i hate anyone when everyone is my extension?

When John Donne says, “Any man’s death diminishes me because i’m involved in mankind.” We think with the poet and empathise with all, our differences dissolve. Poetry makes us empathetic and humane.

In times of raging global wars, these lines assume much greater significance, and we must ask ourselves how we can hate anyone when all are our extensions and brethren? Are warmongers listening? Are they bereft of compunction? Don’t they feel the prick of conscience? Ponder what the Pakistani Urdu poet Jaun Elia says, “Jang ki itni hi darkaar hai agar/Insaan,tu apne aap se jang kar,” – if war cannot be averted at all/You’d better fight with yourself. This fight is metaphorical; you fight with your conscience and get the reply that any war is futile. After all, the voice of conscience is the voice from the Cosmos. Sahir Ludhianvi’s poignant nazm , “Ae shareef insano, jang talti rahe toh behtar hai.” The poet says that war itself is a problem. How can it provide a solution to any problem?

Poetry is a revelation. It enables satori that dawns as an awakening. It is a pursuit of excellence and enlightenment. Poetry is not an ivory-tower production house; it’s a manifesto of ground realities. Urdu and Persian poet Nashtar ‘Nishapuri’ said, “Main rahoon na rahoon, fikra nahin/Hoga meri shayari ka zikra Kahin,” – no matter whether i live or not/Someday, somewhere, my poetry will be read.
Poetry is a balm for weary souls. In turbulent times, poets have a far greater role to play in assuaging humanity’s frayed nerves and providing a definite direction for misguided humans.

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