Background
In today’s world there are unfulfilled aesthetic needs. Poetry can meet this need if its social role of interpersonal communication is recognized and it continues to be the means of arousing and expressing awareness.
Over the past 20 years there has been a strong revival of interest in poetry, with a proliferation of poetic activities in the various Member States and an increase in the number of poets.
It is a social need, which incites young people in particular to return to their roots, and a means whereby they can look into themselves at a time when the outside world is irresistibly luring them away from themselves.
Moreover, as an individual, the poet is taking on a new role as the public becomes more and more appreciative of poetry evenings with readings by the poets themselves.
This shift in society towards the recognition of ancestral values also represents a return to the oral tradition and an acceptance of speech as a means of socializing and structuring the individual.
There is still a tendency in the media and among the general public to refuse to take the poet seriously. Action is needed to free ourselves in order to make this image a thing of the past and to give poetry its rightful place in society.
During its 30th session held in Paris in October-November 1999, UNESCO decided to proclaim 21 March as World Poetry Day.