World Poetry Day 2022: History, significance and celebrations
Poetry is one of the most subtle yet refined forms of artistic medium and is part of the global literary culture. Keeping this in mind, every year, on 21st March, World Poetry Day is commemorated in order to pay tribute to the poets who have contributed to immensely to world literature and encourage poetic tradition among today’s youngsters.
History of World Poetry Day
In 1999, during the 30th General Conference of UNESCO (United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation), that was held in Paris, World Poetry Day was adopted to support “linguistic diversity through poetry and increasing the opportunity for endangered languages to be heard.”
According to UNESCO, the objective was to promote and raise awareness about the value of education through poetic expressions in different languages. Their goal was to preserve all endangered languages by motivating people around the world about the cultural, linguistic and literary values of poetry as a whole, and make them realise that it continues to remain as a treasured form of art, even in the modern times.
Even though most countries celebrate World Poetry Day today, some observe it on 15th October to the mark the birth anniversary of Virgil, the revered Roman poet, widely celebrated for his famous epic ‘Aeneid.’
Significance of World Poetry Day
Poetry is a form of literary art that is loved by most of us even though we don’t practise it in our everyday life. This is because it helps us perceive the world around us in more ways than one, lending a unique prism to look at every aspect of life and mirroring the contemporary society. The contribution of poets in these regards is unparalleled. So, World Poetry Day is celebrated today to honour poets and their role in popularising this art form across various generations.
The aim of World Poetry Day is to revive oral traditions of poetry, promote the reading, writing and teaching of poetry, foster the convergence between poetry and other art forms and above all make poetry a visible and recovering art form.
How is World Poetry Day celebrated?
The entire world comes together in celebrating World Poetry Day every year. Apart from poets and literary organisations and publishers, educational institutions such as schools, colleges and universities also take part in observing this day by conducting poetry competitions for their students.
Renowned poets as well as aspiring ones unite to read poetry, collaborate to form new ones, interact and study the art of composing poetry and in turn spread public awareness about it.
Apart from poetry itself, the day also celebrates related literary and cultural art forms such as recitals, music, prose writing, theatre, dance, painting among others.