Kazi Nazrul Islam: 'Romantic Rebel' Poet

No great poet only concentrates on contemporary matters. Every great poet attempts to focus on future in light of present taking experience from past. If we go through the T. S. Eliot's critical theory Tradition and the Individual Talent, it becomes clear that without taking elements from past it is impossible to describe present and focus on future.

Our officially recognized national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam always tried to make a lineage among present, past and future. Sometimes critics say that Nazrul is a poet of a definite age or time. Obviously a poet writes his or her verses with contemporary subject matters but when a poet deals with a number of universal subjects like freedom of people, a desire for a better society or love for all mankind, then the poet doesn't remain confined in a definite age. He crosses the boarder line of an era or time.

At the same way Nazrul becomes a contemporary poet of every age through his universal poetic creations. The word 'freedom' was a little bit different to him. He was fascinated by the essence of the word, freedom. Nazrul put his full faith on the strength of the word 'freedom'.

We all have a tendency to consider Nazrul only as a rebel poet. But Nazrul is a 'romantic rebel' poet who wanted to break down all imposed and unruly rules as well bring about reformations in the prevailing system. He was capable of bringing out some reformations raising his voice against all kinds of oppressions and injustices. He took pen in his hand to compose the expected verses as a medium of his expressions against all repressions. Nazrul was the Shelley of Bangladesh.

Like the romantic poet Shelley or Byron, Nazrul dreamt of making a society which is prejudice free. He hated British imperialism and realized that imperialists were destroying the peace of freedom loving natives of undivided Indian sub continent. Two poems namely 'Bidrohi' and 'Dhumketu' made people think in a new way. In other words, people became passionate to achieve freedom reading these two energetic verses and determined to liberate themselves from the British colonial rule.

Basically Nazrul is a poet of oppressed and deprived class of people. The people who were the victims of class discrimination became the subject matter of his poems. De facto, the romantic era initiated in England in the late 18th century to highlight the life style of working class people. Therefore 18th century became a transitional age in literature. Nazrul probably got influenced by the revolutionary thoughts of western romantics especially Lord Byron and P B Shelley. The people who labored for livelihood placed in Nazrul's poetry. The diction he used in his poetry was the language of mass people.

Apart from Nazrul may be considered a pioneer of post-Tagore modernity in Bengali poetry. The new kind of poetry that he wrote made possible the emergence of modernity in Bengali poetry during the 1920s and 1930s. His poems, songs, novels, short stories, plays and political activities expressed strong protest against various forms of oppression - slavery, communalism, feudalism and colonialism. 

The two forms, music for the masses and ghazal, exemplified the two aspects of the youthful poet: struggle and love. Nazrul injected a revitalizing masculinity and youthfulness into Bengali music. Despite illness, poverty and other hardships, Nazrul wrote tirelessly for oppressed people.

He had become a legend, the exemplar of a religious sensibility that was not bounded by abstract definitions, but defined itself in the acts of devotion, empathy. His humanistic vision, philosophy and spirit transcended many orthodox boundaries. He was a musician, revolutionary and philosopher who pioneered poetic works espousing intense spiritual rebellion against orthodoxy and oppression. His impassioned activism in the Indian independence movement often led to his imprisonment.

In those days of India's struggle for Independence and Undivided Bengal, Nazrul always believed in the strength of Hindu-Muslim Unity. He wrote devotional songs - Shyama Sangeet - dedicated to the Hindu Goddess - Ma Kali. He deserves to be known as a very versatile poet and writer. He was a mass-oriented literary figure, always protesting against bigotry, injustice, extremism, fanaticism, exploitation, oppression and inequality of all kinds. He was a passionate advocate of religious harmony always advocating better hindu-muslim relationships.

Through his songs and poetry, he propagated the universal values of love, peace, tolerance, freedom, justice, harmony and cooperation. As a persona, he had an indomitable human spirit and was full of love, creativity, humanity and romanticism. He was very warm-hearted and loving and could express his feelings in the most beautiful way through his writings.

Nazrul reached the peak of fame with the publication of 'Bidrohi' in 1922, which remains the most famous work, winning admiration of India's literary classes by his description of the rebel whose impact is fierce and ruthless even as its spirit is deep:

I am a volcano flaming in earth's bosom, the mythical sea-horse spouting fire.
I am a fire coursing through the netherworld, uproarious, tumultuous.
I am lightning, speeding past, skipping and leaping forth in joy.
I am an earthquake striking suddenly and spreading panic everywhere.

(English translation by Professor Fakrul Alam)
The appeal of Nazrul's poem was very direct. Eminent litterateur Anisuzzaman says 'while people had to read 500- page novel of Sharat Chandra to extract the message of freedom, one or two poems of Nazrul was enough to deliver the same message'. A number of researchers are researching on Nazrul's literary works throughout the country but no attempt is made to translate his all poems and without translation it is not possible to place Nazrul in world literature.

I believe that we have internationally recognized translators who can take this matter into consideration. Another word, many of us have a tendency to recollect our literary figures at the time of their birth or death anniversary, which we ought to leave. Rather we should follow the ideologies our litterateurs established for us. Here it is relevant to mention that a Bangla article written by Professor Syed Manzoorul Islam on Kazi Nazrul Islam helped me much to write this article.


Tusar Talukder teaches English literature at Central Women's University, Dhaka

--- Tusar Talukder