In the name of ALLAH the beneficent and

the merciful.
Sources of Poetry are a hot point of
discussion now a day. Many scholars are
working on this topic .This study will
highlight the sources of poetry to
somehow but not complete. It is an
attempt to explore the sources of poetry
on a miniature scale.
A humble Effort by GHULAM MUSTAFA
Roll no: s-13-3407(M-Phil Eng Literature
LAHORE LEADS UNIVERSITY LAHORE




INTRODUCTION: Poetry comes from the soul of man. It is
the best expression of someone feelings, thoughts and
emotions in the form of words and verses. Poetry is a kind of
music which gives pleasure and delight as well as information
about man and his or her surroundings.
Although poetry is a work of imagination and creativity which
is artistically drawn. Poet belongs to humanity and he is
affected by his or her surroundings. Being a genius gets more
and more knowledge in the form of experiences.
Poetry and problems are intermingled in a society in which a
poet or poetess lives. Poetry gives the sufficient solution of
problems. It shows a new scenario, a panorama where
everything is clear and enjoyable.
In this universe, everything derives knowledge from different
sources. Poets are persons with deep thinking. They see
everything from an analytical and philosophical point of view.
Poetry like others derives its knowledge form this universe
and collect data from each and every corner of the world,
processes the data and gives a verdict but not decides yet
judges and gives arguments in the case.





According to my point of view, poetry gets knowledge and
data from these sources.
Social condition of the society excites poets to write
about the problems of society, its absurdities and follies.
They satirize and point out the weaknesses of people
,there thinking and ironic ways in an interesting ways
and compel us to think(Rape Of The Lock By Alexander
Pope) is the best example about the manners,
behavior and attitude of the people of that vary
society
Religious scenario of a society is helpful to collect data
for poetry. The poets satirize the ironic religious life of
people and their false attachment to the religion and
religious thoughts. Again pope and the Father of English
language Chaucer show the bleak picture of religious
people, clergymen and nuns. Pope satirizes in a
poisonous way and the Chaucer in a very pleasurable
way. For references Canterbury Tales and Rape of the
lock reflect the religious condition of society, divine
poetry by John Donne is also shows some religious
aspects in his religious poetry.
Political condition of a society: political condition of a
country and character of politicians excite the
imagination of poets. They satirize the follies and
absurdities of politicians. For references Surrey, wytte,
pope.


Economic condition of a society: The poets are
representatives of a common person and highlight the
poor condition of people and bitterly satirize the cruel
capitalism and its harms. William Blake, poetry is an
evident of this point. He satirizes the cruelties of the rich
people.
Cultural condition of society: poets highlight the
cultural aspects of their society and show its importance
and influences on people.
War and disintegration: Wars isolated the modern man.
The poets are very sensitive. They look from different
point of view. They show the influences of war on
people and their relations. War has bloodshed and
devastation. (Philip Larkin in his poem xixiv) shows the
war effects on people in the poem Mr.Baleeni. Seamus
Heaney also shows the effects of war on the people of
Ireland. Postwar poetry is an apt example of this.
Nature and its beauty: Nature excites the imagination
of poets .Romantics are called poets of nature and
Hardy proves hard on man. William words worth wrote
rustic poetry and its natural beauty. S.T.Coleridge,
Shelley, Byron are also lovers of nature and its beauty.
John Keats says truth is beauty and beauty is truth.
Women and Children: The pity condition of women and
children in all over the world inspires the genius to write
against the authorities who are cruel to women and


children. They raised voices in the rights of women and
children. William Blake poetry is an apt example of this.
Judicial System: The judicial procedure is a source of
literature especially the poets who feel from the core of
heart and put themselves at the juxtaposition of those
people. Poets raise the certain questions and unveil the
cruelties of judicial system
Industrialization and urbanization: These two figures
make the people materialistic and there is no sense of
humanization in them. Everything is based on economic
type relations. This grim situation hurts the hearts of
sensible persons and they mourn at this devastating
condition of society and their members. These two
things affected the lives of people at large scale. William
Blake and many others condemned these two figures.
Present, past and future: The poets bring example from
the past and compare it with the present and suggest
something better for future to ensure a good future for
humanity. This type of literature has a humanistic
approach and theory.
Experiences of life: A person gets many many
experiences in his or her life and the genius one
expresses these experiences in form of verses which is
very useful for people to come. Hardships and sufferings
of life affect a lot and a poet gets a catharsis through
verses. All of the poets express their feeling after
undergoing such like situations. The experiences of the


poets are very useful and become paste for cuts. Mir
Taqi Mir, Mirza Ghalib in Urdu express their feelings and
experiences of life in their poetry very well. Their poetry
has universal appeal and the wishes and expectations
are same all over the world.
New trends in society and cross culture: Ideal world is
very beautiful than the real world. Everyone wants to
acquire facilities and comforts in life. New trends are
very attractive but have also faults which are harmful for
a nation, like European ideas and ways of life comma
system of government were not fruitful in subcontinent.
Their secular ideas were dangerous for Orientals. So the
poets like Allama Muhammad Iqbal, Haali and Akbar
Allah Abadi condemned such like ideas trends of
secularism in their poetry and this is called religious
theory to see the text from the eyes of religion and the
theologians. John Donne religious and Devine poetry is
also an example of this.T.S.Eliot inclination towards the
religion in his theory another example of this.
Govt institutions: Lack of management, idleness and
in efficiencies of govt institutions compelled to raise
fingers on their attitudes. The poets brought in light
their follies and absurdities of these institutions in their
poetry. Pope and William Blake raised certain objections
on their performance.
Emotions and feelings of failure people are also
sources of poetry. The tone of such like poetry is very


sad. There are complaints in such like poetry. Pessimism
is a bright theme of this poetry. Such like of poetry
remembers the compulsion and the weakness of people
in this universe and the theory of absurdisim work
behind it. In Urdu poetry Mir Taqi Mir is a living example
of such like poetry.
Pride and prejudices are source of poetry, the genius
laments on this two bad qualities and habits of people
especially upper class and their cynicism. These qualities
give birth to class conflict, anarchy and hate among the
humanity. These are real danger of war and threat of
separation among same races. Pride and prejudices gave
birth two world wars which affected the lives of the
people at a very large scale. The theory of love and hate
works behind it.
Broken hopes: Hope is strong tool and source to face
hardships. Hope keeps a person alive in very bleak
situation. There is disappointment, anxiety and
frustration. A person expresses his/her ideas in a very
gloomy way and his/her attitude toward become bitter.
This is a pessimistic kind poetry. In Urdu poetry Mir Taqi
Mir is an example of such like poetry. He was a deprived
and displaced person and his hopes were shattered.
Uprising of people stranded: when wealth comes in
middle class society. They flourish and their business
grows with this. Now they want to change their
standard of living but many things do not suit them and


they become a symbol of humor and ridicule. When
industrial revolution came in Europe and middle class
set up their business and change their way of life. At this
point they showed certain stupidity. They were ridiculed
by poet and author. Especially pope hit a very hard on
such like society and provides a chance to ridicule on
them.
The life of common people and their ways of life almost
ignored by poets and they considered it mean poetry
but in modern age poets made common people subject
of their poetry and gained popularity. In Urdu and
Punjabi poetry the poets portrayed the town people,
their behavior attitude in this shape of verses in
subcontinents Nazir Akbar Abadi especially made a
common people the subject of poetry and now gained a
wide popularity modern English poetry also made the
life of common people the subject of their poetry.
Ignorance of people: Many poets make the ignorance of
nations the subject of their poetry. They want to awake
them from slumber. They give them a lesson of self
respect if they recognize their abilities and stand to
make them a strong nation. This kind of poetry is
national and reformal poetry. The poets give example
from past to make them strong .In English poetry Waldo
Emerson. In Urdu Iqbal and Haali in India are apt
examples of such like poetry.


Metaphysics, Hell, Paradise God and angles are
sources of poetry. Epics are written to highlight the
importance and role of these figures in people life.
Milton in Paradise Lost. Homer in Iliad showed the
importance these figures in their poetry. In Urdu poetry
Shahnama Islam by Hafeez Jalandhry, Halli and Persian
poetry are examples.
Sex and Sexuality: Is and other source of poetry. The
poets and poetess express their feelings, expectations
about the opposite. They express the beauty their
beloved and lover. A poet says wajude zun say hay
kainaat main rung. Examples Donne love poetry and in
Urdu Ghazal is clear example. It is an esthetic poetry.
Ethics and Morality: These are sources of poetry and
many poets and poetesses made subject ethic and
morality of their poetry. It is earnest desire of these
geniuses that man must be harmless and civilized on this
Earth.
Conclusion: There may be and can be other sources
of poetry as poetry is a mixture of God, Man relationship
relation of man with man and man`s relation with this
Universe. Man is a central figure of this Universe and
without man everything looks valueless. I gathered
some scattered elements belong to sources of poetry
and left other sources which were not in my view left
these points for people to come. I did my best to collect


exact data about it, if you find any fault with it please
give me suggestions to make it better.

(Waiting for suggestions)

Ghulam Mustafa

0300-8022230