Poets are valuable assets and treasures of a country and poetry must fulfill obligations as an effective tool in the “soft war” against the political and cultural inroads of the West, said Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, on Monday.
In a meeting with a group of cultural figures, professors of poetry and Persian literature, young and veteran Iranian poets as well as poets from Pakistan, India and Afghanistan, on the eve of the birth anniversary of Imam Hassan Mojtaba (PBUH), the second Shia imam, he underlined the necessity of “to-the-point, timely and purposeful poetry on the main issues and needs” of the nation.
Commemorating the late poet Hamid Sabzevari for his talent and mastery of poetic words, he said: “The outstanding feature of the late Sabzevari was his influential, high-quality and up-to-date anthems,” the official website of the Leader reported. The Leader elucidated the responsibility of poets and said they are among the dearest in the country, who must rise to the national needs in issues such as political and cultural, public communications and social bonds, and confrontation of foreign social incursions.
“Poetry must be to the point and take stances vis-à-vis the country’s current issues and needs.”
Stressing the responsibility of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) and other relevant bodies, he said: “Compared with the past, today, poems about Palestine, Yemen, Bahrain, Sacred Defense [1980-1988 Iraq-Iran war], martyred frogmen, martyred defenders of the holy shrines [in Syria] or the innocence of combatants like the oppressed cleric, Sheikh Zakzaky, the courageous and determined sheikh of Nigeria, are more to the point and outstanding.”
But unfortunately, these morale-boosting poems are not promoted and reflected appropriately.
