BLiterature

48
From the Emperor Akbar.
Torn umbrella and royal parasol merge,
Rise on the sad music of a flute
Towards one heaven.”
(Translated by William Radice)
In “Ekjan Loke” (“A Man”), he tells of the eternal sadness of alienation in the human
world. And in “Apaghat” (“The Shocking News”) of Shanai, he shows how the
catastrophe of another part of the world disturbs the merriment of a few ordinary men
of a distant locality.
In “Janmadin” (“My Birthday”) of Shejuti, the poet memorializes his life-history
and the gradual fall of civilization alongside. He suspects the civilization is going to
be caught in the clutches of ‘human-animals’.
In the poem “Pakshi-Manab” (“The Bird-like Man”) of Nabajatak (The Newborn
Baby), he pleads mankind to save the world from a possible catastrophe
caused by technological advancement.
His Lekhan (Writings) and Sphulinga (Sparks) are two collections of miniature
poems.
Even a few days before his death, he wrote a number of good poems that are
collected in Shesh Lekha. Especially memorable is “Prothom Diner Surya” (“The
First Day’s Sun”) –
“The first day’s Sun
Asked the being at its newer birth –
‘Who are you?’
It wasn’t replied.
Years and years passed,
The day’s last Sun
Uttered the last question across the western sea
At silent evening –
‘Who are you?’
He got no reply.”
(Translated by the author)
The same anthology contains another poem titled “Rupnaraner Kule” (“At the Bank
of Rupnaran”) where the poet’s last message is –
“Life is a worship of sorrow till death,
To get the high prize of truth,
And to pay all debts with the last breath.”
(Translated by the author)
Since his early life till the last days, he made continuously newer
experimentations of poetic techniques.
Tagore’s novels for the most part focus on sociopolitical issues of our national
life; his novels are similar to ‘national allegories’. However, he has also written
psychological and romantic novels.
His novels are not many in number, but nevertheless remarkable. And if we
wish to call a single novel the greatest in whole Bangla literature, it should be,
according to most critics’ evaluation, his Gora. A young man, who is proud of his