Poetically Friendly Nations

when I was in college an English professor told me once about the first reading of Osip Mandelstam's banned poetry in Russia in the 1960's . According to this professors thousands of people came and most, non poets, knew the words by heart. I think it is interesting how certain nations have a love affair with poetry and how passionate that can be. Chile, Italy, Argentina, Russia, Poland, Turkey, Iran, and many other nations are defined by poetry and a passion for life that is often lacking.