Kazi Nazrul Islam is the Shelly and Byron of Bangladesh

Kazi Nazrul Islam is our national poet. He is also considered the rebel poet of Bengal. His appearance in the Bengali literature was like that of a comet.

The Bengali literature has had a new touch of life with his classical musical treatment. Alike literature, he was a trendsetter in journalism too. He left a classical style of his own in editing newspaper. We know him more as a rebel poet. A lover of liberty and freedom and also as a great composer.

But he was also a great journalist and editor of outstanding repute. Here we shall try to focus on some of his outstanding characteristics as an editor.World War I began in 1914. Its fallouts also reached India. India was then a British colony. The woes and agonies of the war deeply touched the mindset of poet Nazrul- the rebel poet. He thought it as a good opportunity for the Indians to think for the liberation of their motherland - India.

Nazrul with much courage - both physical and moral - joined the 49 Bengal Regiment of the British Army and was posted in the Middle East -also a British Colony.  Eventually, the British won the war and the 44 Bengal Regiment was later dislodged.

Nazrul came back to Kolkata from Karachi in 1920. The same year he joined the Nobojoog as a journalist.Poet KaziNazrul 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 borderline 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.

ButNazrul 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 that 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.For Byron, politics, morality and poetry are inextricably intertwined; by extension, there is a crucial connection between what he writes and how he lives.

His recognition of this makes him that much more effective and compelling as a rebel. When he died at Missolonghi in 1824, before he had seen any action in the Greek War of Independence for which he had gone to fight, he quickly came to be viewed as a martyr for the cause, a central figure around whom the freedom fighters-and their European allies--could rally, and eventually throw off the Ottoman yoke. It was an appropriate conclusion to a relatively brief life, in which the poet repeatedly insisted on the superiority of actions to words.

"Born for opposition", he died for it too. Byron's life was tumultuous, and he has become the figure for a certain type of Romantic writer. But we need to see how the living and the writing go together. If Byron saw himself as in some way cursed from the beginning, he could find physical justification for this belief in the deformed foot with which he was born, and psychological justification in a miserable childhood spent with his Calvinist mother in Aberdeen.

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 was 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. During British rule, India's struggle for Independence and Undivided Bengal, Nazrul always believed in the strength of Hindu-Muslim Unity.

He wrote devotional songs - ShyamaSangeet - 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 friendship. 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:

Having had a great regard for Nazrul as a revolutionary poet, NetajiSubhash Chandra Bose the Commander-in-Chief of the Indian National Army or Azad Hind Fouz, said, "Truly a rebel, the impact of his writing was immense. Whenever we will be in jail we will carry his songs on our lips. When we will be at war, we will sing his songs. The reading public of Bengal were startled, started, moved and inspired by the bold message and patriotic zeal of Nazrul's poetry".

Nazrul's role as a reformer, a courageous, uncompromising journalist was significant in that as Editor of the Langal, the Dhumketu, the Sevak and the Navayug he wrote fiery editorials and comments and called upon the people to rise against the alien British rulers who had subjugated the then India.

As a man,Nazrul was nobler then all his achievements, says Serajul Islam Chaudhury, adding that he was generous, openhearted and made friends without number. In the words of Buddhadeva Bose, "To meet him has been to love him, for his was one of the most picturesque and attractive personalities in our recent history. He has been a living denial of everything that withers the heart. Where he was there was delight."

Nazrul's soul embodied a special human empathy that flew through all the Prophets. To be able to feel the pain of others is the real feeling of noble pain. One cannot find any selfish motive or goal behind the feeling of pain of those who suffer so. This is so, because, it's that agony the experience of which lets one identify himself with it, rendering him in tune with the true nature of soul.

There is a deep sense of joy at feeling the sadness of others; it's like a beautiful, long stretch of fountain on the bed of our living heart.It is the same agony the divine messengers have experienced in the deepest of their heart in tune with the humanity. Words cannot express this sorrow. It's the same pursuit that renders divinity upon humans. It is in the utmost sincerity of this sorrow lies the tranquil peace of sacrifice. One finds the touchstone of joy and happiness in this orchard of perennial agony.

He was establishedand recognized as the national poet of Bangladesh. His universalism and his bond with the humanity are not reflected yet in our national psyche, ethos and culture.

The Rebel one would not have embraced this national poet hood of a nation that is now notoriously known as a "corrupt" nation (actually, ranked as the number one), a nation that still depends on foreign aid, a nation that still is engaged in internecine politics and violence. Such a nation actually misrepresents what Nazrul was and what he stood, fought and rebelled for.Despite all this, the effort to introduce Nazrul to the world must continue vigorously.Nazrul is not merely ours.

Just like people like Rev. MacArthur of WCC see and appreciate the universalism of Nazrul, we are confident that the world would one day know Nazrul the way he wanted the world to know him.On the eve of his 43rd death anniversary, we can say thatNazrul's poetic spirit and humanity cross boundary and touches universalism.


The writer is a researchers
and columnist