Conntemporary Poetry of Bangladesh

Contemporary poetry: unsteady dynamics Dr. Rafique Ullah Khan Professor Department of Bengali University of Dhaka Bangladesh The consciousness or spirit of the society of Bangladesh has advanced through complex and conflicting experiences. Democracy, liberty and the progressive characteristics of the state are the preconditions for the development and advancement of an innovative society. But Bengalis had to go through unending struggle to achieve these. The basic feature of a people struggling to survive is their spirit of collectivity. Considering the condition of self –dependence for individualistic development, it can be asserted that the collective spirit is more significant than individualism in Bengali poetry. But the basic attribute of modern poetry is the expression of the self-dependent individual consciousness. The complex reality in development of the middle class in this land, we observe, has various internal inconsistencies. In such a state of instability, the poets had to be actively involved in the struggle for human rights in different times. So, the context of individualistic poetry like Europe was absent here. The mindset of middle-class shaped within the colonial and dependent economic and production system is basically collective, but indecisive in the question of self and confrontational in a bid to be self-sufficient or self-dependent. It was hoped that there would open an epoch-making opportunity for Bengali poetry after the magnificent victory of 1971, and that the sensitive sensibility of poets would want to find newer essence of poetry from the experiences of the enormous bloodshed in the long struggle, to stand on freed land and hoist one’s own flag; Moreover there were potentials for qualitative changes in the society. But we see with surprise that a complex dynamics is instead introduced in the nature of our poetry; experiencing the war, the groups of poets representing different ages and streams arrived at a point on the question of the constituents of poetry. Poetry attained a collective nature on the occasion too. The situation became almost the same just after the Language Movement in 1952, but assuming the possibility of emergence of Individualism, many poets then emphasized their own selves in trying to articulate their stand on social questions. But the bloodstained consciousness of the liberation war along with the individual’s sky-scraping dreams, within the newborn state-entity that was anticipated to be brought up under democratization and industrialization, expressed itself with collective feature. So, sometimes, a resemblance as well as unity of consciousness is observed between many poets of the late 60s and budding poets in the socio-political context of that time. The bloodstained impression of life among young poets immediately after the liberation war, the unbounded expectations and ultimate frustration caused by the realities of a newly independent country, meant that the tendency to leave the usual stream of passion and nature etc coincided. Many 60s poets shaped the same essence in different forms. They themselves could create their own forms and style in a way that were more mature that the young could. So the distinct verse of a new generation of young poets remained unuttered. Shamsur Rahman, Al Mahmud, Saheed Qadree, poets of 50s and most poets of the 60s had illustrated the same consciousness in their own forms. Several poets emerged in the late 60s who could stir patriotic dreams for a smooth collective life with intensity of expression. Among them were Sikder Aminul Haque, Asad Chowdhury, Al Muzahidee, Mahadev Saha, Mahmud Al Zaman, Humayun Kabir, Humayun Azad, Sanaul Haque Khan, Mahbub Sadik, Habibullah Sirazee, Zahidul Haque, Aseem Saha, and Helal Hafiz. Though the main features of most of their poems was the struggling desire for life, we observe the warp and woof between the individual entity and collective entity, the delight of celebrating the self and a sense of alienation. But the inherited consciousness becomes insignificant in the post-liberation period. The features of the poetry flourishing then include the sense of a collective consciousness, a spirit for struggle for and being in the mass, indecisiveness in expression of urban feeling, memories sometimes- nostalgia, the attraction for nature and the countryside. It is difficult to define the character of the poetry of this time, specifically. 2. Expression without hesitation, discontentment with the material changes in society and a state of detached from society typified the poets who emerged after the liberation war. Unlike some of their predecessors, love and struggle could not vivify them. Rather in a few years’ disasters in national life, the fading glories of the liberation war, the rebirth of the defeated pro- Pakistan faces, the return of martial law, establishment of autocracy instead of democracy, reorganization of defeated communality, elimination of the key pillars of the constitution such as secularism threw the nation into dark and uncertainty. In this situation, the reaction of the sensitive poets was important. We have to find out the characteristics of 70s poetry in relation to the social condition and state-management portrayed above. The prominent characteristic of the poetry of those days is that the experience of the bloody war and competition for self-establishment and expression went hand in hand. In the meantime, the ideals inspired by massive sacrifice had been exhausted. Frustration spread fast as a result of adverse suffered in society. This frustration is not same as that of the 60s’ but came as the suffering of expectations and dream of liberation. It was driven too by class- consciousness and a renewed desire for struggle. A few examples can be represented here to illustrate these. It is worth-mentioning the names of the poets who emerged after the liberation war, namely, Daaud Hayder, Abid Azad, Shihab Sarkar, Abid Anwar, Bimal Guha, Muneer Siraj, Mahbub Baree, Abu Karim, Mustafa Meer, Hasan Hafeez, Saikat Haider, Syeed Hayder, Saikat Asgar, Rabindra Gop, Shamim Azad, Abu Kaysar, Asad Mannan, Muzibul Haque Kabir, Mayukh Chowdhury. They didn’t come into the scene with any particular denial of the preceding stream; but their world is a very different one. This is true not only about their views on the material circumstances, but also psychological. For instance, my village flooded away, summer will burn it Moving from door to door and yet no job to be had Now only time to see whether the city will shelter me You have left the country to survive Come away, leave everything behind [Daaud Hayder] You never get me, only lifeless end of the day Always illusion of the right of horizon Twisty dry tongue of your path drop off Thirsty River misleads you [Abid Azad] Universal sun arrives here in this house to set Gloomy dancing-girl of moon dances on reversed feet Blood come out of the wall rust covers glasses Tire sparrow throws its wings itself at rage. Some Rimbaud seeks satisfaction in funeral song, When do I infuse life to this house? [Abid Anwar] Unrest Rush in the dance room, fire on the entire stage The snatched my manuscripts all of a sudden Sentry to and fro Later some of intelligence claims the history of my tongue Why not better cutting my vain? [Shihab Sarkar] My homeland crawls in the darkness, In a new manner, moving the heavy head This side that side Walk towards the locality. [Bimal Guha] The disordered picture of the mind and uncertainty and the frustration of individuals mind after the war can be derived from these stanzas. Here the frustration resulting from devastated dreams is more intense than dreams. “It is my very sin to be born since the birth” or “Still I get smell of dead-body in the air” are same in terms of pain in spite of the difference in words. The intensity of emotion and pain is realized in the works of the poets of the first phase, but the blood stained consciousness of the near past interestingly is absent. It seems that the breakdown of society and devastations of life shaped the form of poems. Life goes through ups and downs- is borne out again and again in the history of art and civilization. But the problems of our society have multiplied; the outcome of the struggle is obvious in the dark feelings of the poets, they derived no satisfaction in love or company, they articulate dispossessed delusion. Like the poets of 60s, the 70s poets didn’t want to give up the positive attachment to life rather the incessant emergence the negative aspects defeated their spirits. 1. Veiled the glory of struggle, the cruel sharp teeth of wolves No joy in life, cultivation in the infertile land No yearning hope to be hopeful The aimless age under burning and fierce hood Our uncertain habitat our burning flicker\ [Hasan Hafiz] This vulnerability depicted is not personal; there is unity among the poets on this aspect- and this is the basic character of 70s poetry. Conspiracies, hostility, bloodshed becomes facts of life in the middle of this decade. Retreat form the values of the signs of the liberation war and from the ideologies of state has thrown life into darkness. The frustration of poets touches the clouds. Handfuls of blood shed Whose kid die shot? Hostile homeland, send me in exile. [Kamal Chowdhury] No need that many flowers Quiet, humble life No need- No need Need some violent mutiny some strike Need some heat in blood, some warmth Need some fire red. [ Rudra Muhammad Sahidullah] Words full of my heart Wants to be fluent like a machinegun [Mahbub Hasan] As if thunder in blood and sense Somebody in the history Prepare arms Himself [Mahmood Shafiq] This protest begets a new darkness in many poets of the time. Some added the frustration to it. The poets who flourished in the mid 70s included- Nasir Ahmed, Halim Azad, Shishir Dutt, Absar Habib,Iqbal Aziz, Sohrab Hasan, Faruk Mahmud, Zahid Hayder,Tushar Dash, Ashraf Ahmad, Taslima Nasrin, Jafar Wajed, Ahmad Aziz, Nasima Sultana, Saifullah Mahmud Dulal,Muhammad Samad, Aneek Mahmood, Mohan Rayhaan, Abu Hasan Shahriar Syeed Al Faruq and so on. Being in the midst of overwhelming frustration, the poets of this generation attempted to stand. Though Zahid Hayder claims- never the generation got love/ rising, heard only/ the bell of breaking / predecessor’ sigh/ multicolored delight in the peculiar lips of politics/ its body is very oily with sweat and oil/ human hearts are unimportant to it. Though this indicates the nature of his generation, he relies on longing than on love. The love of the poets seem intense- The Baul still sleeps in me At least once if he were awaken, As if kissing its cheeks told like an elderly: You bathed in mistaken water, Mr., Sometimes it is worthy washing mistakes in tears. [Nasir ahmed] As if a pure world-peace is grabbing all A yellow man sees it standing Now he feels sleepy Once again the yellow man would have awaken before he goes to bed [Iqbal Aziz] Now I feel hungry sleepy Sweat and blood soak the map in hand You assured the map would be mine, Why? [Nasima Sultana] Ma is just beside you and me Exhausted Seeks warmth At kid’s sorrow [Tridiv Dastidar] We can realize the nature of the poetry of this time from the stanzas instanced above. Hesitation and reluctance to evaluate 70’s poetry is seen in most critics. At the time of the emergence of this generation, their predecessors had taken the control of poetry. Basically, the fast transformation of experience, the devastation as well as the construction of the middleclass in a newly independent country, moreover our terrified mindset on the issue of life after liberation war made these poets deal with an uncertain reality. 3. There is always a fashion in poetry that dominates for a while, but with time attraction for it diminishes. There was the same spontaneous stream here from the time of Michel Madhusuudan Dutt to the beginning of the 21st century. Sometimes this type of poetry bearing many components of superstructure may become socially significant. So poems of many popular poets of the first half of 20th century become a matter of research for these socio-political commitments. The intense expectations of life and bloodstained feelings of the poet after the liberation war seems too blunt beside the early preoccupation with mature. Those poems taken as the depiction of time without direction and ideology could not touch the 50s or 60s. Like the common people, the life and livelihood of the poets was disrupted because of uncertainty, in the context of sudden transformation of the present by unstable symptoms of social organization and the devastated life of the middle class. For those enriched by the inheritance of the consciousness from capitalistic development, it is natural that they would have to remain under feudalistic mediator-capital dominated state system with features of the petty-bourgeoisie. This nation struggled for development. It is clear to the progressive people of third world that only a distinct map, a national flag and anthem can’t signify independence and sovereignty of nation. In spite of the dilemma of the military rule and pseudo democracy, our society advanced. The enthusiasm for knowledge, philosophy, and aesthetics multiplied many times in the mean time in spite of the self- centeredness among modern educated middle class. The young started to lose faith in the usual pattern of poetry. Magnificent development of science and technology could stir the other underdeveloped stagnant lands, though in a negligible pace. The expansion of the western capital in the name of globalization bound the structure of economy and the production of dependent countries increasingly. The denial to the practice and beliefs of the predecessors in the long absence of democracy is clear in the feeling and creation of the 80s poets. These 80s poet explicitly denied the characteristics, values, and aesthetics of their forerunners. They felt that would have to wound the interior and form of poets of the 70s. We observe in them universal thought and interest in latest inventions in sciences, new dimensions in the use of myths, and tendency towards metaphysics, even declaration of spiritual belief. Denial of the characters of poetry spread explicitly all over the preceding last three decades, transformation of means, scholastic thirst, dependence on philosophy, correlation to mythology (not of society), scientific approach, concentration on native heritage, and widespread consciousness became the characteristics of this stream. We know poem has been the means of expression, the intellect since the First World War. Initiative to find out psychophysical inconsistency within the society in accordance with the epoch-making findings of Marx-Freud has been the basic feature of Bengali poetry for the last three decades, as well. The change in social condition obviously brought changes in the human existence and psychophysical condition. Philosophy and science entered the poetry in between the First and Second World War. If the use of myth in innovative dimensions in poetry is considered, then it can be asserted that the relation of science to poetry is as old as poetry itself. Most of the 80s poets passed through experiences of a bloody war in their childhood and adolescence. Before the blood-signs could get permanence in their sub-conscious, a number of unexpected occurrences happened in the post-war decade. The joy of the victory in the adolescent sensitivity and curiosity, dream of democracy, the aspiration of building the nation altogether faded.Then the current national and international affairs often come inevitably as the background of poems. This assessment of the experiences normally made the 80s poets search for new content. Khondker Ashraf Hossain, Rezauddin Stalin, Mohammad Sadik, Farid Kabir, Masud Khan, Moyeen Chowdhury, Maruf Raihan,Badrul Hayder, Samresh Devnath, Sarkar Masud, Muheebul Aziz,Mohammad Kamal, Dara Mahmud, Kajal Shahnewaz, Bishwajit Chowdhury, Sajjad Sharif, Shoyeb Adab, Shantnu Chowdhury, Rifaat Chowdhury, Qamrul Hasan, Khaled Hossain,Syeed Tariq, Golam Qibriyaa PInu, Aminur Rahman Sultan, Abdul Hi Shikder, Suhita Sultana are worth-mentioning among those who composed poems exercising philosophy, science and mythology, denying their forerunner’s severely, and being proud of their new creation. In the first stage we see philosophy, introversion, a peculiar mix of science and metaphysics, and use of mythology in the poems. For example- Human being is self-destroying blue creature Once it built the world with its bones from torso Once it itself would destroy it, Not God, neither any god nor any stone statuette, not the girl in the dawn or midnight, neither the fountain nor the vagina, not any deep sleep, nothing can. Only human being can break itself. [Khondker Ashraf Hossain] I heard a lot of stories about wall Now I tell you some story of horizon, In spite of the by-born tendency I extended my hands towards horizon. [Rezauddin Stalin] 3. No battle picked me, echoes from procession every times Passed me away! Dark of unfair from every side veil All my crowd of cherished days [Farid Kabir] We get a touch of their philosophy from these short extracts from their poems. The effective component of transformation of modern poetry is Myth (a Post-modern Attribute is added here). Myth is always used in the poems. To create new poem Myth is reshaped, and therein lies the potential of rebirth in every new shaping. A fabrication of Universal Myth and a Native Myth is seen in 80s poetry. Gradually shaping the subconscious, horizontal boundless travel of mindset opposing the present, application of heritage according to consciousness, dispersion of the components creates a different wave in content and language in the these poems: 1. Alien a rough way of thorns Who walks along that path- but Radha? [Sajjad Sharif] 2. A dog Leading dog to Yudishthir Ah, the splendid third harmonics in its twisty tail! [Masud Khan] These poets construct a multistoried consciousness parallel to their mythical source. The intensity of the self discovering and destroying led them to the core of the earth. Basically context is not important in their poems, rather representing the self defined truth in different contexts. Khondker Ashraf Hossain, Rezauddin Stalin, Mohammad Sadik, Farid Kabir, Moyeen Chowdhury and Shantnu Chowdhury were among the first poets of this generation. The first three emphasized heritage, self and philosophy than form. Spheres of postmodern aesthetics, expansion of self-array, postmortem of traditional belief, unhesitant exposition of human relation, new definition of metaphysics and even sometime innovative poetic representation from science, truth and theory are found in the work of the rest. Here are some examples: In the mid night sleeping Kudigram Gradually detaches from our usual Earth Violates all gravity Then along with its entire little kingdom Flies toward some distant space [Masud Khan] Don’t kill chromosome of trees We wait with a brave triangle A few cuckoos in the sea beach Open page of creations [Moin Chowdhury] The application of scientific context can be regarded as one of the basic features of the poetry of this generation. Not the materiality or the theories, but poets have made the most of the connections between our lives and science. In this respect, science rules the poet, poetry, form and content of Masud Khan. Sometime science enters there in the poet’s own nature, sky, space, native, nostalgia, and makes it mechanical. We see practice of pure art in every age’s poems. Sometime it is for the sake of unveiling many truths, sometime to flee from political or social responsibility, sometimes to swim in the different sensations. There exists commitment to aesthetics more or less in every honest poet. No modern poet can bypass social responsibility, especially when the globalization of knowledge and art due to the technological advancement has made the poetry simultaneously centripetal and centrifugal. The body of the poem is native, and the mind is global. So it is the whirl of various nature of time makes the characters of the poetry unstable. 4. Most of poets who came into the scene with sufficient confidence in the last decade of the twentieth century were first introduced basically in the last years of the 80s. The art of the time itself give these poets a distinct identity. We find them to be autonomous, full of self-conceit at own creation, and an intense poetic pride that is little different from the preceding decade. As usual, they opposed the usual language, style, symbol, form, depiction and paradigm of early poets and changed the contexts in search of new characters. They conserve inherited consciousness and the question of science and philosophy. There was introversion and self-centricity in them as well. Their individual lives and mindsets were shaped within the society. An interesting change was introduced in the arena of creativity here in Bangladesh due to various ups and downs in social life. The instability at the passage of a millennium, external pressure of global capitalism, political and cultural hegemony, and internal pressure from native politics economy and culture made the young’s mindset introverted. The interior of the generation was wounded and bloodied and made them full of apathy to traditional belief. They were full of disbelief in politics and state, in traditional values, and disrespectful to the deeds of the predecessors. Hatred and rage grow at the bloodshed. This hatred is of the social system, of belief in early life, of disorganization in the social institution. So their self-seeking got limited within a microscopic periphery. Bratya Raisu, Tokon Tagore, Chanchal Ashraf, Alfred Khokon, Genes Mahmun, Baytullah Qaderi, Zafar Ahmad Rashed, Tushar Gayen, Mahbub Kabir,Masudul Haque, Tapan Bagchee, Sarkar Amin, Abu Sayed Obaydullah, Shanaz Munnee, AlakaNandita, Ayesha Zharna, Kabir Humayun, Pablo Shahee,Khalil Mazid, Qamruzzaman Qamu, Mujib Irm, Mihir Musakee, Rahman Henry, Hezaz Yusufee, Shamim Kabir, Shamim Reza, Siddharth Haque, Shamsul Arefin, Shoaib Zibran, Pratya Jasim, Rawshan Zhunu, Henry Swapan can be mentioned from this generation. They are still dynamic in the quest of new forms of question-frustration-grief-cry of their own. A big portion of 80s poets took ancient- history, base land of folk heritage, native and overseas features of the poetry, domain of their nature, search of the existence from womb, wandered in mystic art-heritage for the self-seeking and expansion of their thought. Like- This bird bears message Of winter The earth’s little sister [Mahmud Kabir] Lamp of shed off, scared bride Flies fly away stealing honey Suddenly a picnic bus holds Near to an old cave [Qamruzzaman Qamu] This journey in ancient memories inevitably brought change in the language of poetry. They affected artificial urban lifestyle in urban society with the urban intellects. From the beginning, they intended to deny present civilization, urban culture, and arts by formers etc for a sort of outsider perception. Poets of this generation have a mystic appearance also. This is certainly very significant in the dilemma of worldwide spread of fundamentalism and extremism. Also, the going together of mystic idealism of The Bengal and articulation of spiritual belief created a new aspect of poetry. For example- It was very well known We have born from grave to dig it again. [Sarkar Amin] The song I sing in every birth-carrying funeral cot Alluvial sphere takes away the very body- the flower Even then the flower blooms again tonight at the funeral song Petals convey the life The story is same of the living and non-living. [Abu Sayeed Obaidullah] More examples of this type could be found in the poetry of this time. It is doubtless that the intensity of self-assessment changed the content of the poetry to a great extent. Poems of all ages have particular style; as we know, language is dynamic like the time. Even then, the poets of new generation cannot avoid experiences and the style of the poets of the preceding generation. As human beings have to return to their root. Sometime poets also have to go the source of mythology and formers’ collection of experiences. Perhaps still we have to wait a few more in search of new content and form for widespread evaluation of contemporary poetry. PAGE 1