A Great Poet! Poem by Ramesh T A

Who is a poet of value according to critics best?
Is a poet of fun or facts or both a great value?
A poet who has message of lasting value is best;
What is the parameter by which he can be detected?
Critics of great value are Matthew Arnold and T S Eliot
Perhaps guide all to find the best poets anywhere!

Arnold to find Classic poets has his touchstone method of
High seriousness, great ideas, melody, morality, erudition;
He sees in poets, Chaucer, Spencer, Shakespeare, Milton
And finally decides John Milton can be classified as Classic!
More than poetry personality of poet stands foremost in
His critical study of poetry to decide about the greatness!

Eliot historically going through all says original work is nil
And in the modern poets what is most significant is art,
He says decides the greatness of a poet and not personality;
An artist escapes in his art from the present world and self;
This is the mark of a true poet, painter, sculptor everywhere
That decides the true worth of any litterateur if one observes!

In all great message and music decide about a poet of value;
Just mechanical rhythm with end rhyme cannot produce poems
Of natural expression in which poets forget themselves and also
Make readers enjoy and engross themselves forgetting all here.
This is the touch stone I feel relevant to decide about a poet’s
True worth everyone can unanimously accept and appreciate!