Prof. Dr. Mustofa Munir :
In February 1923 when Poet Nazrul was in prison cell he received a book dedicated to him by Nobel laureate Poet Rabindranath Tagore. It was his Lyrical drama Bashanta. The young Poet Nazrul was overwhelmed with joy to have that book from Poet Tagore. That day he realized that his poetic creation was fruitful. That happiness inspired him to write the poem ‘The ecstatic joy of creation’ (Aj Shristi Shukher Ullashe). He created a classic poem with glorious metaphors and poetic rhythms, with smile, and sorrows, freedom and restriction.
He wrote:
“Today I speak out,
My chest bursts out,
My Happiness emanates
From my bitter sorrows!”
That day the amassed anger and happiness in his heart prompted him to speak out with the rhythms of life; his mind was like a wild horse without bound though his mind was occupied and flanked by a newborn baby anda dead old man amidst utter indigence.
He expressed his emotion:
“On my right-lies a new-born child,
On my left-a dead old decrepit!
O my mind runs like an unbound horse,
Wild it becomes!
Today I’m ecstatic for the joy of creation!
Today I’m ecstatic for the joy of creation!”
His another poem ‘The Rebel'( Bidrohi) emanates the powerful voice of rebellion.This poem can be compared with the rippling sounds of a flowing river; it creates rhythms that reverberate all over the oppressed world. He inculcated an arousing spirit and consciousness in the heart of the people of undivided India with waves and rhythms of life. A radiant expression beamed out from the poem like the rays of the glorious morning sun shining from the peaks of the Himalaya. The poem is narrated entirely in first-person narrative where ‘I’m’ is a rebellious valiant who is someone or something in its extreme form. That ‘form’ is a volcano, tempest, cyclone, deluge, fire, sun, Saturn, and cataclysm. The first-person narrative allowed the Poet to speak out on behalf of all suffering people of the world. The cry of freedom and self-respect readily emerge from that poem ‘The Rebel’, therein he displayed his sturdiness of will, a keen intellect and thoughts with powerful conviction and ethical courage. He wrote ‘Say, O valiant say’ where everyone who fights the world that dehumanized the human race is a valiant. He divulged his honest anger:
“Whatever on my way I find I break!
I’m the cyclone, the storm,
On my own beat I dance, I’m a dance-crazy rhythm!
I’m the unfetter’d joy of life, I’m joyful!
I’m Hambir, Chayanaut, Hindol,”
That rhythm will prevail forever.
In poem ‘Kamal Pasha’, he injected a new kind of rhythms in Bengali literature. That rhythm brought a seething inspiration for the subjugated people of India to liberate the country from the grip of tyrant colonial ruler. He praised Kamal Ataturk of Turkey for his bravery and patriotism, for his military and political accomplishment in the battle of Sakarya in 1921 against the Greek offensive. He liberated the country from all European Allied force. He cheered and applauded Kamal by saying:
“Such a gallant Kamal we need
To tackle those bandits!
O Kamal! An astounding task you’ve
accomplished!
Ho Ho Kamal! An astounding task you’ve accomplished!”
A portion of Poet Nazrul’s great literary works was created while he sojourned in Chittagong (a port city of Bangladesh) for a week in the year 1926 and also in 1929. The lovely green canopies of trees in Chittagong and its sea, rivers, hills and cascades attracted the Poet to bring the rhythms of life in his poetry. He created four classic romantic poems while he was passing his days in Chittagong. The poems are: ‘My secret lover’ [Gopan Pria], ‘My lover without a name’ [Onamika], ‘ A row of betel-nut trees by the window'(Batayan pashe gubak torur shari) and ‘The Sea’ [Shindhu]. Every wave of sea divulges the rhythms of life. Poet merged himself with the pain, emotion and passion of the sea. The heart of the sea swells up in pain with rumbling waves.
In the poem ‘My lover without a name’ (Onamika) the Poet portrayed his lover as his eternal dream companion, a frolicsome lover, his secret stroller and lover forever. He drinks her love, the elixir of life, by pouring into many cups with many desires. She is concealed not in the vineyard that produces wine but, in his heart,… that heart is full of rhythms of love and pain.
There is a constant demand from the world literature and the vast audience of the globe to perceive the well-crafted beauty of any great literature that exists in this world. Poet Nazrul’s works contain the crafted beauty and essence of humanism, the basic value the mankind should live with.
(Dr. Mustofa Munir writes
from the USA).
