WHAT IS POETRY
Late Janamanchi Venkata Ramaiah
Those who are bereft of good education in
literature
and think that weaving verses is poetry are
not men but
monkeys who mistake fireflies in a dark forest
for tire
and try to bask in it in winter’s cold.
Poetry should not be like the parrots’ rote
but must
delight the mind like the Kokils’ song giving
bliss to
the soul.
What cannot be broken inspite of effort, what
cannot be
bitten though our teeth are strong, what is
insipid in
taste and pains the mouth if chewn too much,
to such
poetic trends I bid good-bye with folded
palms.
Poetry written without knowing the difference
between what
is good taste and what is its imitation gives
us only
gilted stuff which deceives us.
Like the little danceuse who wears the anklets
of the
elders and acts amorous roles, the poet who
describes
Without experience does not please the hearts
of the
discriminating men of taste.
Poem must be fit for the idea, as otherwise it
becomes
like a light inside a black pot; for the living
soul
also if the outerbody is not good it does not
allow
the light to shine out in full.
The poem without the idea is like the flower
without
fragrance and like a lifeless painting and
like a
Godless temple.
However sublime the idea of a poem, if it is
not pleasant
to the ear it is not pleasant to the mind, the
adage,
that however sweet a thing may be, what is not
good to
the eye is not good to the mouth, is quite
true.