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 state in the human mind, the individual element is the particular form of character. which is impressed upon the subject by the creative genius of the poet.”

Literature is intimately connected with the life of the people. “The abiding life of Poetry must be looked for, far beneath the surface of society; it should be the aim of the poet first to divine the true character of his age, as distinct from the shows and illusions of things and then to discover which of the great moulds of Poetry corresponds most closely with the nature of thought. Therefore Poetry, like politics, is an outward mode of expressing the acting principles of social life.”

“Just as in human beings it is the complete union of soul and body which contributes to the harmonious life of each person, so in poetry the beauty and propriety of the imaginative form will proceed from the organic unity of the imaginative conception.”

Turning our attention to the growth of Tamil literature which is the subject of my talk this evening, the most ancient Tamil literature available to us is the great work called ‘Tholkappiam’. Most of the Tamil scholars consider it only as a great book of grammar. But it is