Poetcrit
Current Volume: 37 (2024 )
ISSN: 0970-2830
Periodicity: Half-Yearly
Month(s) of Publication: January & July
Subject: Language & Literature
DOI: https://doi.org/10.32381/POET
Online Access is Free for all Life Members of Poetcrit
The Role of Poetry in Remembering
By : Sagar Mal Gupta
Page No: 85-89
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that poetry is the most powerful means of expressing memory. Memory presupposes the recollection of past experiences in the present. Memory can be of two kinds: painful and pleasurable. It can be personal or social/of the group. The reader or the listener identifies himself/herself with the feelings and emotions expressed in the poem. Take for example, Lady Macbeth’s sleep-walking scene in which she says: ‘All the perfumes of Arabia cannot sweeten this little hand.’ The intense agony expressed in this line affects the reader/listener intensely and he/she identifies himself/herself with the agony. When one reads a poem on Joshimath or Morbi or on The Earthquake in Turkey and Syria, one undergoes the trauma of group memory.
There is no evidence to show that the memories of crisis last longer than those of good times. But common sense says that it may be true. It would be worthwhile to make a difference between remembrance and memory.
The paper discusses memories of various kinds by giving examples from poets such as Thomas Hood, Laurence Banyu, Shelley, Wordsworth and Rossetti. The paper concludes that by examining the poetic expressions on memory, the research reported in this paper contributes to a deeper understanding of enduring nature of memory.
Author :
Dr Sagar Mal Gupta :
Retired Professor of English.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.32381/POET.2024.37.01.10