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***** AN ANALYTICAL VIEW OF THE POETIC WORKS OF POET PERCY B. SHELLEY AND POET KAZI NAZRUL ISLAM. Poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) was one of the major English Romantic poets, and is regarded as one of the finest lyric poets in the English language. And Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam (1899-1976) was no...

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***** AN ANALYTICAL VIEW OF THE POETIC WORKS OF POET PERCY B. SHELLEY AND POET KAZI NAZRUL ISLAM. Poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) was one of the major English Romantic poets, and is regarded as one of the finest lyric poets in the English language. And Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam (1899-1976) was not only a great poet, short story writer and novelist, but was a lyricist, singer, composer, dramatist, actor, director, journalist, editor, a soldier, a humanist, a philosopher, a sufi and saint. Poet Shelley and Poet Nazrul had many similarities in their literary works. Both were lyricists, romantic and rebellious in nature and they loved to write poems in long poem genre using mythological characters in their poems to depict them as the icons of freedom, justice and equalities. If we analyze their works from any of their poetic creation of romantic poems or invigorating poems we will find Poet Nazrul excelled his poetic talent as Shelley did. They both left the imprints of their literary virtuosity superbly in this world of literature. In the lyrical drama ‘Prometheus Unbound’ Shelley portrayed the social reformist Prometheus who had a dream for love and peace for mankind. In Greek mythology Prometheus was an ordinary man lived in the kingdom of Jupiter who defied the oppressive rule of power-greedy Jupiter (Zeus) and hurled vehement protest for his social injustices. In this poem Shelly spoke the words of Prometheus who was afflicted by heat, cold, and many other torments in a deserted mountain, but hopeful to usher an age of peace and prosperity for all through love and forgiveness. Shelley wrote the words uttered by Prometheus while he was left alone on the cliff.

“..Which Thou and I alone of living things Behold with sleepless eyes! regard this Earth Made multitudinous with thy slaves, whom thou Requitest for knee-worship, prayer, and praise, And toil, and hecatombs of broken hearts, With fear and self-contempt and barren hope.” “To suffer woes which Hope thinks infinite; To forgive wrongs darker than Death or Night; To defy Power which seems Omnipotent; To love, and bear; to hope, till Hope creates From its own wreck the thing it contemplates. . .” Similarly Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam (1899-1976) in his lyrical poem ‘Euphoria of Cataclysm’ (Proloyullash) portrayed Shiva, the Hindu mythological God as reformist who could destroy all evils and start afresh where injustice and oppression will not prevail. There is a hope that the long night will dawn again with a smile in the land of India. The baby nation will feel comfort under the shadow of a leader like Shiva. So, he should be welcomed like a hero with cheers and ovation. Nazrul wrote: “O fear not! Fear not! There The apocalypse seized the universe entire! 1

In that devastation hidden is the life of all those decrepit Moribund and old! At the end of this long night In a piteous way with a smile the sun will dawn! On the matted hair of the Digombar the baby moon Puts her hand, all over him light will spread! O you all, welcome the hero with cheers of victors! Welcome the hero with cheers of victors!!” This lyrical poem ‘Euphoria of Cataclysm’(Proloyullash) was published in a weekly magazine ‘Probashi’ in June1922 in Kolkata, India. It was compiled along with other awakening, rejuvenating and inspiring poems in an anthology named (Agnibina) ‘The Fiery Lute’. His poems sparked enthusiasm, political awareness and spirit of liberation in the hearts of subjugated people of greater Bengal and other parts of India. Fearing Poet’s superb literary works might raise people’s sentiment against its oppressed rule and could bring a revolution in India, the British colonial government had to confiscate and ban poet’s many published books, poems, articles and a bi-weekly magazine ‘Dhumketu’. Later he was arrested in November 23, 1922 and imprisoned for one year. Shelley expressed his utter aversion to the growing anarchy, mayhem and brutality of the British King in his poem “The Masque of Anarchy”. In his lively verses of the poem he manifested the occasion of a massacre that took place in St. Peter’s field, Manchester in 1819 with the powerful images of the unjust acts of a ruler -- the king. The crowd at that gathering was run over by a cavalry regiment and armed soldiers, but the protesters did not raise an arm against their assailants. The poem was not published in print until 1832. He wrote: stanza 30: “Last came Anarchy: he rode On a white horse, splashed with blood; He was pale even to the lips, Like Death in the Apocalypse. Stanza 31: And he wore a kingly crown; And in his grasp a sceptre shone; On his brow this mark I saw-'I AM GOD, AND KING, AND LAW!' Stanza 33: And Anarchy, the ghastly birth, Lay dead earth upon the earth; The Horse of Death tameless as wind Fled, and with his hoofs did grind To dust the murderers thronged behind. Stanza 38: `Rise like Lions after slumber In unvanquishable number, Shake your chains to earth like dew Which in sleep had fallen on you -Ye are many -- they are few. In his poem Shelley called for and pleaded to maintain virtuous principles and non-violence in the face of the violent ruling power who boasted as he was 'I AM GOD, AND KING, AND LAW!'.

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He urged, people should “Stand … calm and resolute,” with “folded arms and steady eyes” being guided by “Science, Poetry, and Thought”. “Rise like lions after slumber” thus beckons hope in the people. And almost a hundred years later Poet Nazrul emerged as a poet in India where people had been living a subjugated life under constant oppression of the tyrant British colonial government. Like the lyrical poem ‘Euphoria of Cataclysm’(Proloyullash) Nazrul, in his poem ‘The Rebel’, urged each and every valiant on the land of India to pronounce— “Say O valiant— Say I hold high my head! Bows down that peak of Himalaya when it Beholds my head! Say O valiant— say Slashing through the mighty sky of the mighty universe, Passing beyond the moon, sun, planets and stars, Penetrating the earth, orbits and the heaven, Severing the throne of the God I’ve risen— I’m the eternal wonder of the God of the universe!”

To mourn the untimely death of Poet John Keats Shelley wrote a poem ‘Adonais’. It is an elegy to Poet John Keats. Keats died in1821 at the age of twenty six. Both poets were in Italy at that time. ‘Adonais’, stanza I: “I Weep for Adonais—he is dead! Oh, weep for Adonais!” though our tears Thaw not the frost which binds so dear a head !” Then he wrote in stanza XXXIX: “Peace, peace! he is not dead, he doth not sleep, He hath awaken'd from the dream of life; 'Tis we, who lost in stormy visions, keep With phantoms an unprofitable strife, And in mad trance, strike with our spirit's knife Invulnerable nothings. We decay Like corpses in a charnel; fear and grief Convulse us and consume us day by day, And cold hopes swarm like worms within our living clay.” In stanza XLI: “He lives, he wakes—'tis Death is dead, not he; Mourn not for Adonais. Thou young Dawn, Turn all thy dew to splendour, for from thee The spirit thou lamentest is not gone;” 3

The poem ‘Adonais’ began with sorrows and grief and ended with a hope that the poets of coming generations could carry his poetic philosophy. Shelley called everyone to mourn and remember John Keats as he was not dead, it was the death which was dead, but his spirit lived ever. Shelley depicted Keats in the identity of Adonis, a Greek god who was loved by Venus and died at a very young age, being torn apart by wild boars. Both Keats and Adonis were taken at a young age. Shelley wanted the readers to mourn his death, but to prolong the death in their memories and rejoice his virtual resurrection while reading the words of his romantic poems. Poet Kazi Nazrul’s poem ‘Mrs. M. Rahman’ is both an elegy and eulogy to Lady Rahman after her death. Mrs. M. Rahman was Mrs. Masuda Khatun(1885-1926), one of the pioneering women in Bengal (India) who fought for the women’s rights and equality in the conservative society of both elites and common people of Bengal. She was a writer, columnist and an activist. Poet Nazrul respected Mrs. M Rahman like his mother. She was his source of inspiration to write many poems on struggling women and their rights. In her untimely death poet was deeply shocked. He wrote this poem as a gesture of respect and recognition to her contribution she made during her short lifetime. Her death would be meaningful only through the uprising of the suffering women of world that poet felt deeply. Poet wrote-- her soul was clean like a sacred amulet that contained divine words. Like a moon the people who suffered social injustices created a high tide in her sea of pain. Now the sea is dried up untimely, the moon died too. Poet believed her death was not futile, the uprisings of the oppressed would continue. She would walk over the death towards life. “Like an amulet your soul is clean And holly containing the words divine, Those who creat’d high tide in your sea of pain, Where are they now? Where dies the moon When the sea is dri’d up? For those you sacrific’d Your life untimely, let your sacrifice Be meaningful through their uprisings! That flame of your life was extinguish’d, O mother, Again as a mark of victory on the parting of hair Of all women of the world let it be blaz’d! On the path of life towards the death you walk’d, Leaping o’er the death do you walk Today towards the life?”

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Both Shelley and Nazrul wrote excellent romantic poems and lyrics during their short poetic life. Shelley’s best known romantic poem is the ‘Music, when soft voices die’. He wrote: “Music, when soft voices die, Vibrates in the memory— Odours, when sweet violets sicken, Live within the sense they quicken. Rose leaves, when the rose is dead, Are heaped for the belovèd’s bed; And so thy thoughts, when thou art gone, Love itself shall slumber on.” Music lives in the memories though it ceases to be played; when the sweet flowers decay and die, their pleasant fragrance still remains and when the rose dies, its leaves are used to adorn the bed of a beloved one. When his beloved goes away love still slumber in lover’s thought, in his heart. Likewise, the fullness of the song echoes in lover’s heart when it is contained fully with love. In his romantic poem ‘Behind the song’ (Ganer Arale) Poet Nazrul wrote: “When my heart is full and overflow’d, In my voice that fullness echo’d, ”

Love for the beloved always remains in the deepest seat of lover’s heart. So Nazrul wrote in his another romantic poem ‘It is my pride’ (E Amar Ohonkar): “Even though I haven’t gotten In my neck that garland Of thy neck I will design thee – ‘tis my pride! In my tears, in my artful melody, in my verses, In my language, in my pain and despair, In my poetry thou callest me in gesture O my lover fore’er!” In this poem though the poet is not adorned with his lover’s ‘garland’ (the unrestrained melody in her voice), still he takes a pride that he can design her in many ways as she exists ever in his crafty melody, in his verses, in his tears, pain, in his words and poetry. In these two poems above Shelley and Nazrul exhibited the same core theme ‘Love never fades away from the heart’.

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‘Stanzas Written in Dejection, Near Naples’ is one of Shelley’s finest and most emblematic romantic poems. Poet Shelley was in a state of dejection and loneliness. The expression of an estranged mind at the night along the shore of Bay of Naples imbued with a deeper philosophical allusion: “I see the Deep’s untrampled floor With green and purple seaweeds strown; I see the waves upon the shore, Like light dissolved in star-showers, thrown: I sit upon the sands alone,— The lightning of the noontide ocean Is flashing round me, and a tone Arises from its measured motion, How sweet! did any heart now share in my emotion. Alas! I have nor hope nor health, Nor peace within nor calm around, Nor that content surpassing wealth The sage in meditation found, And walked with inward glory crowned— Nor fame, nor power, nor love, nor leisure. Others I see whom these surround— Smiling they live, and call life pleasure; To me that cup has been dealt in another measure.” Similarly Poet Nazrul’s reactions to the nature and insights gained from the nature are profound and matchless. In his romantic poems Poet Nazrul conveyed to us that the pain-laden human soul can whisper to the reticent nature in unhindered manner; the nature’s pain is so intimate and deep— a human heart can conceive its wailing. A romantic mind is a good perceiver of any image of the nature. Birds, trees and flowers often become the sources of romantic thoughts and sublimity that the poets produce in their poems. Nazrul found the Sea in dejection. He aligned his own emotions with the emotions and pain of the sea. In the epic ‘The Sea’ (Shindhu) the Poet encapsulated human pain, love and passion in the embodiment of the sea. The heart of the sea swells up in pain with the rumbling waves. While we read— ‘The Sea’ (First wave) “O the sea, my friend, The insatiable, the ever-estrang’d! Which pain had spark’d thee to swell up to the brim? Something wantest thou to say? But to whom, O my friend? Blue sky above, shore below longed for thee! Speak out, O the restless breaker, tell me In thy heart why so much murmurings Of the waves? Why’s this unending rumbling?” O the meditator! There appear’d the moon— when, thou knowest not, As if bewilder’d thou art! O the reticent!” 6

He wrote— “In thy roaring waves I wish my cry blazons! In vain thou lookest for me, O my friend ! my sea! Up to the brim thou art not, Me too! Nothingness is all around! In the endless wailing The stream bemoans in the middle !”

Poet Shelley in his poem “To a Skylark” exalted the virtue of a bird. It soars high up, it is free and it sings. It travels anywhere, anytime at the ‘sunken sun’(dusk) and when the morning star at the horizon. The bird’s songs are better than the sounds of rain and human’s poetry. It is a blithe spirit rather than a bird. “Hail to thee, blithe Spirit! Bird thou never wert, That from Heaven, or near it, Pourest thy full heart In profuse strains of unpremeditated art. Higher still and higher From the earth thou springest Like a cloud of fire; The blue deep thou wingest, And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest. In the golden lightning Of the sunken sun, O'er which clouds are bright'ning, Thou dost float and run; Like an unbodied joy whose race is just begun.” Likewise, poet Nazrul picked up a romantic theme in his poem “A Rows of Betel-Nut Trees By The Window”(বাতায়ন পাশে গুবাক তরুর সারর). He considered the betel-nut trees to be his night awakening companions in a moonlit night. He talks with them intimately. The betel-nut tree is his dream walker. The murmuring of their leaves are the sweet words of his beloved. It is the parting time— the window will be closed. There will be no shimmering in the window under the moon and there will be no more silent conversation. In the poem we read:

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“Good-bye, O my night awakening companions by the window! O my friends, the parting night is getting pale like a shadow! As of today moonlight will not shimmer at the window, No more will be our silent conversation though. ....” “---Today, before our parting from each other So many wishes in my heart appear— To know you and to be known! The words of your heart I condone, Why this greedy mind wants to know then Some words of the heart that are only spoken? I know, through words we will never be known, In our hearts the vina will play only the pain!”

Lastly a few alluring stanzas from the poems—‘Rarely Comest Thou’ And ‘The Devotee’, written by two great Romantic poets, are quoted below: Rarely Comest Thou By Shelley “Rarely, rarely comest thou, Spirit of Delight! Wherefore hast thou left me now Many a day and night? Many a weary night and day 'Tis since thou art fled away. I love all that thou lovest, Spirit of Delight! The fresh Earth in new leaves dressed, And the starry night; Autumn evening, and the morn When the golden mists are born. “I love tranquil solitude, And such society As is quiet, wise, and good; Between thee and me What difference? but thou dost possess The things I seek, not love them less.” 8

The Devotee ( Pujarini ) By Kazi Nazrul Islam “After so many days at this inopportune Time— when I dance Day and night In the bloody mortal-sport Like a dust-blinding whirlwind— O my beloved! After so many days I came to know At this inopportune time — through Generations I know thee! O the devotee! That melodic musical mode, that voice, The eyes, eyebrows, forehead, cheek and face, Thy phenomenal beauty, thy dangling, Like a victorious she-swan thy dance-faulty swinging! I know, I know everything! On a frustrat’d, wearied, dried up, burnt Beach of life I found myself in a swoon, So I call’d thee from my deep heart O my belov’d! Thy sweetest name I cherish and utter silently! In a torn voice I cry out,— I know, I know thee! Neither art thou a victorious nor a mendicant, A goddess thou art, a chaste, an ascetic virgin, My devotee thou art! Through ages lovest thou this brute! Thyself thou burnest whilst Kindling a lamp in my heart, Time and again thy devotion made me indebt’d! My sweet heart!” I’ve known thee For many generations!”

The nature and qualities of all classic literature are always same. When we read all those verses produced by two lofty Poets, we find the verses are filled with allusions, resonance and sublimity.

Source books: 1.The Major Works, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Oxford University Press,2009. 2.Sanchita, selected poems and lyrics of Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam, Outskirts Press Inc. 2015. 3. ‘Fiery Lute’ selected poems and lyrics of Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam,Nazrul Institute, Bangladesh, 2018. © Professor Mustofa Munir USA 2018 9

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