On the importance of Poetry
At the start of his war on writers, Stalin adopted a policy not of killing but of isolating. Unlike the leading Bolshevik leaders, whom he killed one by one until the whole political and military elite was subdued, Stalin was terrified of being portrayed "badly" by writers, above all by poets.
Perhaps because he understood that, since ancient Greece, the poet had been established as the master of truth. The poet's word lives on in the memory of future generations, and can project a positive or negative image of rulers across the centuries.
When he learned of Mandelstam's poetic caricature, he phoned Boris Pasternak, whom he admired (without being able to control him), to ask how important the poet was.
The conversation is recorded in the preface to Mandelstam's book "The Noise of Time" (Editora 34):
Stalin: But he [Mandelstam] is a master, isn't he? Isn't he a master?
Pasternak: Yes, but that's not the point.
Stalin: Then what is?
Pasternak: I'd like us to have a meeting. To talk.
Stalin: About what?
Pasternak: About life and death.
in Jornal Opção, 15 October 2015
World Poetry Day is celebrated on 21 March.
More than a literary genre, poetry is a form of resistance and of freedom.
