An Apology for Shakespeare

An Apology for Shakespeare is a collection of poems written by S A Joseph, a popular poet from Kerala and also an acclaimed and experienced academician. S A Joseph has been writing poems for long (off the writing field, unofficially) and he finally decided to come up with his maiden poetry anthology but to make it even serious and ascribe a certain purpose to it, the poet made it ‘a defence of poetry’ in verse and rhyme.

The poems in the collection are all wonderful and rather modern in the way they have been narrated as well as the content in those poems won’t let you settle down and find a ‘pattern’ because even being so similar in tone, they are so vivid and lively. The poet writes about the degeneration of human society – the way we have accepted Lucifer rather than God. By Lucifer, the poet means all the vile and vices which have come as the add-ons with modernity and luxuries.

The poetry of S A Joseph that he draws in An Apology for Shakespeare is rather modern, not only in the terms of the imagery that he creates but also in the terms of form – there is no form, in fact! The poet and his poetry are simply flowing freely and enjoying the tennis without the nets (as FRL told once). The only purpose of the poet is to eulogise the art of poetry writing and also warn us of the things that we have become – merely mechanical things with the free installation of a mind which is rather conditioned in a particular way by the society we live in – no values for art and no value at all for humanity.

To sum up, the poet is weeping the same old tears but in a new way or you can use the old phrase – ‘old wine in a new bottle’. But that is universal about poetry; who can write something new? What is new under the Sun?

An Apology for Shakespeare is meant to be read by all the lovers of poetry who would like to enjoy poetry in this time when it has become rare. You can get a copy of the book from Amazon and enjoy free delivery if you are a prime member:

An Apology for Shakespeare on Amazon