World Poetry Day 2024: Theme, History, Purpose, Celebration, Quotes

Each year on March 21, poets across the world commemorate World Poetry Day. On this day, poets are honored, oral poetry recital traditions are revived, poetry readings and writings are promoted, poetry education is promoted, poetry and other creative forms like drama, dancing, music, and sculpture are brought together, and poetry is given more media exposure.

Today, on World Poetry Day, we commemorate one of the most cherished cultural and linguistic expressions and manifestations of personal existence. Throughout every civilization and region, poetry has been practiced during antiquity to communicate to our shared humanity and ideals, converting even the most basic of poems into an effective catalyst for conversation and harmony.

World Poetry Day 2024 Date

World Poetry Day is among special days observed worldwide every year. The first celebration of World Poetry Day took place in 1999.

World Poetry Day History

The concept for World Poetry Day was hatched in Paris in 1999 at the UN’s 30th General Conference. Participants of the conference agreed to designate March 21 as World Poetry Day. Poets at the United Nations established this day to highlight the significance of expanding linguistic variety and to make people aware concerning indigenous languages.

To commemorate World Poetry Day and previous poets who have devoted their lives to literature creation, the day will have a different subject each year. Poets may also perform poetry performances on this day, which celebrates poetry as a kind of art that links people to their deepest human feelings and emotions. Through poetry, individuals may see what existence was like hundreds or even thousands of years ago.

World Poetry Day was first observed in October before the United Nations set a specific date for it. Several nations continue to celebrate World Poetry Day in October as a result of this longstanding custom.

World Poetry Day Purpose

One of the goals or themes of World Poetry Day is to bring attention to the importance of poetry in the conservation of old languages, in human growth in general, and in bringing about global awareness. As previously said, poetry encouraged and motivated ancient military heroes, and poetry also empowered the rebellious legends and their supporters during the medieval era throughout the middle Ages.

A majority of the world’s people believe that poets from the past have played an important role in the development of contemporary society. They utilized language in a variety of ways, which resulted in the richness and beauty of intellectual understanding and knowledge overall.

World Poetry Day 2024 Celebration

World Poetry Day is a widely celebrated day amongst general population, although it is not observed as an official holiday elsewhere in the world. A large majority of individuals who are passionate about this topic visit conferences and seminars organized by both governmental and non-governmental organizations. Participants in these kind of seminars may also view poetry performances on television or hear to beloved poetry on the radio if they are unable to participate.

Others post favorite couplets on social networks, while editorials write articles praising poetry’s significance while also proposing the most appropriate subjects for poetry to address in the present moment.

World Poetry Day 2024 Quotes

“Trees are poems the earth writes upon the sky, we fell them down and turn them into paper, That we may record our emptiness.” (Kahlil Gibran)

“A poet’s works to name the unnamable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world, and stop it from going to sleep.” (Salman Rushdie)

“Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.” (Maya Angelou)

“What the world wants, what the world is waiting for, is not Modern Poetry or Classical Poetry or Neo-Classical Poetry but Good Poetry. And the dreadful disreputable doubt, which stirs in my own skeptical mind, is doubt about whether it would really matter much what style a poet chose to write in, in any period, as long as he wrote Good poetry.” (G. K Chesterton)

“An artist must be free to choose what he does, certainly, but he must also never be afraid to do what he might choose.” (Langston Hughes)

“You must have a certain amount of maturity to be a poet. Seldom do sixteen-year-olds know themselves well enough.” (Erica Jong)

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