Civilisation and Poetry-English Essay, Paragraph, Speech for Class 9, 10, 11 and 12 Students.

Civilisation and Poetry

In an age in which commerce and industry reign supreme and science and technology determine the modes of living and thought, one is likely to look down upon poetry as some kind of “pleasant little hobby which nice people play when there is nothing more amusing to do”. A little deeper look, and we may regain our perspective and perhaps have a clearer reflection of the poetry to the onward march of civilisation.

The rich fabric of human civilisation is made up of various strands of different hues and shades. Man’s creative impulse has manifested itself in a myriad of disciplines, branches of knowledge and fields of activity. The poet’s role, whatever our blurred vision of it now, has been of a profound significance in the history of man.

The function of poetry is to “refine and enrich our sensibility”. While the progress made in the areas of science, technology, agriculture and industry has provided an answer to the material needs of man, poetry has played a notable role in relation to his emotional and spiritual urges. Poetry, as Hazlitt has said, is the language of imagination and passion. It is a universal language which the “heart holds with nature and itself”. The contribution of those who spoke this universal language, of poets like Homer, Shakespeare, Goethe and Kalidas to the enrichment of civilisation, is a glorious fact of human history.

Human beings cannot afford to be insensitive to the call of their “primary affections” which subsist permanently in the race and exist independent of time. The observation that “as civilisation advances, poetry declines” is a sad commentary on our imbalanced view of man.

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