Poetry is Priceless - Culling Poetry from the Curriculum Diminishes our Cultural Heritage

Ofqual, the GCSE regulator has excelled itself by decreeing that poetry needs no longer to be studied by its students! But great poetry has power to move the inert mind, to inspire a mildly enquiring person to think deeply, to feel emotions never before experienced, to bring joy, to stir to action and to increase an understanding of our world.

I recently read some Bulgarian poems by Nikola Vapzarov, that are heartbreakingly moving; and to learn that our education system is consigning poetry to an ‘option’ means many children will be cut off from this strand of the world’s linguistic legacy.

Poetry in context can go hand in hand with the poem to deepen understanding of our world.  To repeat a poem, and learn it, leads to a richer experience of life.  Each repetition, when focussed upon mindfully, stimulates new thoughts and emotions.

Why is this important for young minds?  In today’s Twittersphere of soundbite Trumpian language, cut and paste phrases, slogans fit for the brain dead, frivolous, shallow and provocative statements need the strong antidote of good poetry. It encourages us to think more deeply for ourselves and our existence in the world.  We need to teach the young how to challenge ‘fake news’ and ‘alternative facts’ and to recognise the brilliance of moving words.  Poetry lovers must clamour for attention and demand to know why our school system is giving children the choice to flippantly drop the subject. We should introduce them to the rich diversity of the finest poets and poetry that the world has produced not close off an avenue of easily accessible cultural wealth leaving a majority of children exposed only to the blandness of advert jingles, politically spun phrases, and mediocre texts or tweets. 

Being introduced to Vapzarov’s poetry and his life story on the same day I learned of Ofqual’s decision incensed me. Children need to be inspired by a poet’s words, perhaps to learn what it can mean to believe in a cause for good against evil like the fight against fascism.   

Vapzarov was born in Bulgaria and joined the resistance against the fascist regime when the country banned communism and joined the Rome/Berlin axis.  He was executed for his beliefs in 1942 and we cannot read his poem ‘Faith’ and remain unmoved. Our children need to experience poetry that inspires and touches the core of human empathy. 

He writes:

 

                        Look! I breathe

                        I work,

                        I live

                        And poetry I write

                        The best that I can.

                        Life looks upon me

                        Under his brows

                        And I fight him

                        The best that I can.

 

                        I struggle with life

                       But do not think

                       That I hate life.

                       Never! Never!

                       Even when dying

                       Life pressing me hard

                      With his rough hands

                      I will still love!

                      I will still love!

 

                     Let us say – they hang

                     A rope on me

                    And ask:

                    “How about another hour of living?”

                     I will scream instantly:

                     “Down!

                     Down!

                    Take down the rope,

                    Faster, you bastards!”

 

Vapzarov’s poem reflects his anguish and his love of life; he inspires us still by his actions and his passion for freedom and humanity.  We need to teach children about poets and poems to enrich their world.  What a role model Vapzarov can be; a working-class man and intellectual who could not afford university, who had a brilliant, sensitive, passionate mind.  Despite the confines of his limited working environment as a machine room mechanic, in a naval college that now bears his name, he transcended the mundane to produce some of the most powerful words known to man.  Of course, his resistance to the fascists resulted in personal disaster. 

In 1942, Vapzarov was arrested for his role in organising anti-fascist activity and executed.  He wrote farewell letters and poems from his cell including the hauntingly beautiful poem to his wife that ends

                    The fight is hard and pitiless                     The fight is epic, as they say.                     I fell. Another takes my place –                     Why single out a name?                     After the firing squad – the worms.                     Thus does the simple logic go.                     But in the storm we’ll be with you,                     My people, for we loved you so.

I challenge you not to be moved by poetry like this.  Shouldn’t our children be given the opportunity to enter the realms of something beyond the nuts and bolts of practical subjects, to learn how to live in an uncertain and treacherous world with compassion and humanity, to learn how to preserve and develop what we might call civilization?  Our children have lost a lot during this lockdown.  We should not be taking away something intrinsically precious that in terms of money and time cost little, but whose returns are so great.  Our children should know about people like Vapzarov who, even when facing the ultimate penalty, was unshakeable in his beliefs and who had the bravery and eloquence to write his poem Faith that challenged the fascists to the end.

                        Maybe you want

                        To destroy

                        My faith

                        That tomorrow

                        Life will be better

                        Life will be wiser?  

                       And how would you storm it, please?

                       With bullets?

                       No! not a chance!

                      They will come back to you!

                      Because my faith is shielded

                      Deep in my chest

                      And bullets

                      Against her

                      Are not to be found!

                      Not to be found!

As today’s children face challenges, not only by the lockdown and restrictions on their young lives they must deal with the legacy of world crises, injustices, and climate change.  They need inspiration and understanding of the kind that poetry brings, and it should not be flung away on a whim by a bureaucrat.  Teach them about poets like Vapzarov who, on 23rd July 1942, and just thirty-two years old, was executed by a firing squad, killed for his faith in a better life for all. But his words still live to inspire others to fight against evil and we should fight for our children to hear them.