Nargas-Bhai Vir Singh English

interpreter who has used a very free method in theEnglish re rendering. The translator has paraphrased,and often greatly expanded, his original, in trying toget an English equation for the closely compactedPunjabi verse. Bhai Vir Singh has the faculty that truepoets have, of satisfying by the style and quality of hisverse the critics and the cultured readers: yet he appealsjust as strongly to the common people. "His touch,"says his biographer, "has the power of making anyonea poet. I have seen unlettered men and women glow atthe emotion of his verse, as they listened to him."Indeed his effect upon his listeners appears to havesomethilng of the spell, akin to divine madness, spokenof by Plato.As for his method and it is always interestng tolook into the workshop of the craftsman "he draws arough pencil sketch and fills in the colours rapidly,which. he does not alter, if the original idea or sceneshould fade from his eyes." He is one of those whoprefer to suggest rather than to complete a given subject.It is not so much the cleverness of his word paintingor any exact descriptive faculty, but his imaginativeatmosphere and his art of lifting common things intothat atmosphere, which give his poems their individualpower. There is another quality to be counted by theWestern reader in the equipment of Bhai Vir Singh,and that comes of the race emotion which we feel in allthe genuine Sikh writers.Through great trouble the lot of the slave whosespirit could not be broken, the courage of the warrior,the devotion and ecstasy of the saints on earth theSikh poets learnt their inspiration. To their heritage,~viI~Page 9www.sikhbookclub.com