T.S. Eliot: Every people should have its own poetry

"For I think it is important that every people should have its own poetry, not simply for those who enjoy poetry -- such people could always learn other languages and enjoy their poetry -- but because it actually makes a difference to the society as a whole, and that means to people who do not enjoy poetry. I include even those who do not know the names of their own national poets. That is the real subject of this paper."

"The Social Function of Poetry" in On Poetry and Poets by T.S. Eliot