ABSTRACT
Poets and their poetry are ‘national’ if believed to be so: if they write in the national language and speak to national concerns – above all the militant desire for independence from a foreign power; if they are ready to fight and die for the national cause; if they inspire; if they are read and sung, studied and discussed, and if extensive biographical and critical studies are made of them; if towns, streets, squares, and public buildings, mountains, learned societies – even football clubs – are named after them; if their statues, with statutory pigeon and droppings, grace city squares; if their picture is on bank notes and public holidays are associated with their names; and especially if their poetry is recited and sung by children in school.
