Poetry has travelled a long distance from the romantic yearnings of William Wordsworth to the present disturbed outpourings of young British poets who participated in a recent competition.
“The grim realities of the contemporary world – including terrorism and racial strife – loom large in the work of the winners of the biggest competition for young poets, says a news report.
“The number of entries for the Britain’s Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award doubled to 11,000 this year, reflecting the growing popularity of verse, which organisers said is influenced by factors from pop music to e-mail.
“The unveiling of the contest winners today coincides with National Poetry Day, which has ‘identity’ as its theme this year.
“But while there is rising enthusiasm for poetry among young people, the subject matter of the 15 winners of the contest, aged from 12 to 17, shows a firm grip on the more disturbing threats in modern life.
“Two of the winning poems deal with the subject of terrorism. One entry, written by 16-year-old Emily Middleton, adopts the voice of a suicide bomber detailing her last moments before detonating a device on a bus while ‘clinging to the image/of Heaven’s open gates’.
“Another poem, written by 14-year-old Londoner Adham Smart, hijacks the limerick form (‘There once was a man from Kashmir’) to highlight the iniquities of anti-terrorism laws and racial tension. Other subjects include global warming and the threat to endangered species.”
Here are the sample poems from the contest:
My Future
by Emily Middleton
Other people live in fear
Of gun massacres, heart attacks
Car smashes, plane crashes,
Horrific back-street slaughters.
But me? I can tell you my future:
All two hours and twenty-six minutes of it.
I can tell you how
I will be swaddled in wires
Like a new-born in a blanket;
How plastic and metal will nestle
In my flesh like vital organs.
How the firm push
In the small of my back
Will feel like a mother
Sending her son into the playground
On his first day in school.
And here is another poem…
The State Of Poetry
by Martin Newell
Poets? Find me one of those.
Not some mush with a blocked-up nose
Boring us with chopped-up prose
That’s not even lucid
Lion and Uni fighting for renown
Page v Stage in a one-course town
Naked emperor, paper crown
State of poetry? Luvly
Is it relevant or fair
Who’s appointed Poetry Chair?
Locked in the Bodleian Library there
Do we care? Not really.
Here’s your ranter in his rags
Foul of mouth on beer and fags
“Where’s my dosh, you Oxbridge slags?”
Poetry? Ah yes, poetry.
Scansion though? All too much fuss
You wait two hours for an iambus
Five arrive at once. Discuss.
“O Captain? my Captain!”
Po-faced poets in Clark Kent glasses
Sixteen questions right? no passes.
Hooray for the oil-drizzling classes!
Poets win prizes. Stupid bastards.
Brought the art form to its knees
Chips on shoulders? Ooh, yes please
Can I have that twice? with peas?
When I’ve signed with Faber?
Arts Board sat like a mean old aunt
Pile of forms for a piddling grant
Write you may, but rhyme you can’t
Going to the ball, doll? You shan’t.
And, finally, here is for a change (and nostalgia) a poem written by William Wordsworth (1770-1850)…
Wandered Lonely As a Cloud
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
The stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Outdid the sparkling waves in glee;
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company;
I gazed — and gazed — but little thought
What wealth to me the show had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.