Remembering Jibanananda Das befittingly

According to a report published in this newspaper a three-day long poet Jibanananda Das Fair kicked off on the Amritalal Dey College premises in Barisal–the district of the poet’s birth– amid a colourful programme on Friday morning. The Barisal unit of the Jatiya Kabita Parishad is organising the programme. The organisers deserve plaudits for their initiative as this great poet is a relatively lacking in recognition. Of course he is widely read and continues to have an impact on contemporary poets. What is missing is recognition from the establishment. His birth and death anniversaries are not celebrated in a truly befitting manner. Even the celebration of his birth centenary was a rather low key affair.
Jibananda Das definitely deserves better. He is considered as the pioneering innovator who introduced modernist poetry to Bengali literature, at a period when it was overwhelmingly influenced by Rabindranath Tagore's romantic poetry. His poetry has definitely survived the test of time. Jibanananda Das’s poetry has the power to transport one to the obscure region of one’s being and sensibility beyond the everyday bounds of sense and reason.  He achieves it characteristically by endowing mystical attributes to mundane everyday objects of nature, especially the ordinary objects that we see in and around Bengal as Bengal was known then in its undivided entity. This rootedness of his imagination and sensibility is what makes Jibanananda Das a unique poet, different from almost all the modern Bengali poets.
Even when the last part of the twentieth century ushered in the post-modern era, Jibanananda Das continued to be relevant to the new taste and fervour. This has been possible because his poetry underwent many cycles of change, and later poems contain elements that precisely respond to post-modern characteristics.
Not only did he experiment with modernism in his work, his love for this land is expressed eloquently in numerous poems. It is believed that Das has inspired all the poets who have chosen Bangla as their medium of expression. Never before, perhaps, was there a poet here who like Jibanananda Das, time and again, made the so-called lowly and unattractive creatures and plants like idur (mouse), shalik (Indian maynah), pecha (owl), kaak (crow), chorui (sparrow), hash (duck), ghash (grass), akanda (crown flower, calotropis gigantea), dhundul (a kind of local vegetable) and so on as  symbols and metaphors for his great poems. Not only among Bengalis,  Jibananda’s works also inspired many prominent scholars abroad including his celebrated biographer Clinton B. Seely. It is time that  the life and legacies of Jibanananda Das is celebrated in a more befitting manner. Perhaps setting up a Jibanananda Das academy will be a  good starting point.

Remembering Jibanananda Das befittingly

According to a report published in this newspaper a three-day long poet Jibanananda Das Fair kicked off on the Amritalal Dey College premises in Barisalthe district of the poets birth amid a colourful programme on Friday morning. The Barisal unit of the Jatiya Kabita Parishad is organising the programme. The organisers deserve plaudits for their initiative as this great poet is a relatively lacking in recognition. Of course he is widely read and continues to have an impact on contemporary poets. What is missing is recognition from the establishment. His birth and death anniversaries are not celebrated in a truly befitting manner. Even the celebration of his birth centenary was a rather low key affair. Jibananda Das definitely deserves better. He is considered as the pioneering innovator who introduced modernist poetry to Bengali literature, at a period when it was overwhelmingly influenced by Rabindranath Tagores romantic poetry. His poetry has definitely survived the test of time. Jibanananda Dass poetry has the power to transport one to the obscure region of ones being and sensibility beyond the everyday bounds of sense and reason. He achieves it characteristically by endowing mystical attributes to mundane everyday objects of nature, especially the ordinary objects that we see in and around Bengal as Bengal was known then in its undivided entity. This rootedness of his imagination and sensibility is what makes Jibanananda Das a unique poet, different from almost all the modern Bengali poets. Even when the last part of the twentieth century ushered in the post-modern era, Jibanananda Das continued to be relevant to the new taste and fervour. This has been possible because his poetry underwent many cycles of change, and later poems contain elements that precisely respond to post-modern characteristics. Not only did he experiment with modernism in his work, his love for this land is expressed eloquently in numerous poems. It is believed that Das has inspired all the poets who have chosen Bangla as their medium of expression. Never before, perhaps, was there a poet here who like Jibanananda Das, time and again, made the so-called lowly and unattractive creatures and plants like idur (mouse), shalik (Indian maynah), pecha (owl), kaak (crow), chorui (sparrow), hash (duck), ghash (grass), akanda (crown flower, calotropis gigantea), dhundul (a kind of local vegetable) and so on as symbols and metaphors for his great poems. Not only among Bengalis, Jibanandas works also inspired many prominent scholars abroad including his celebrated biographer Clinton B. Seely. It is time that the life and legacies of Jibanananda Das is celebrated in a more befitting manner. Perhaps setting up a Jibanananda Das academy will be a good starting point.