Al Mahmud: The luminary of Bangla poetry
M Mizanur Rahman :
n realism, a poet is a person of flesh and blood. While living in dreamland an emotive sensation of the poet creates elixir that touches life. In sorrow or happiness, in sadness or apathy, in melancholy or pathos, a poet brings out excellent words carrying rhymes of verse from heart and soul, the artistic texture of that verse recreates pleasure in mind and soothes the pain of one’s heart. Actually poetry has its natural ambience where poet’s imaginations accrue benefits.
Al Mahmud is one of the most distinguished poets of Bangladesh who has earned popularity among the poetry lovers of Bangladesh and West Bengal, India. This popularity is gained by the brilliance of imagery of the poet.
His idyllic and phantasmagoria episode in lyrics and beauty of images enamors the throbbing of one’s heart while reading his poetical works. His innate love of beauty provides romance therein and intellectual hubris culminates in euphony.
In an interview to a local journal Charulia Al Mahmud opined on the structure of poetry by saying that ‘poetry’ in his view is the infinite dream of human entity expressed with the recreating languages of rhymes, similes, and metaphors. What we possess in dream, is the thing we call ‘poetry.’
It must have its realism but above realism imagination lays its superb languages of sub conscious mind. The poet has his bitter experience of life down to earth. His experience touches every aspect of internal and external phenomena of nature.
Al Mahmud believes in unreal and unseen images of surrealism. The human being, according to him, is but a bit of poet in person, because she imagines. This power of imagination makes one poetic to some extent.
This human perception must have a certain degree which superseded by the poet compared to the common masses of people. The human cannot live without dream. This dream makes life creative and affluent.
The art of poetry rather remains in all artistic works of life. This has been enthralling us from time immemorial. It is even found among aboriginal human minds from unknown time and anthropology. This has its trend like time’s ebb and tide.
Al Mahmud is a modern poet of Bangladesh. His creativity in poetry limits him in the age he lives. Every aspect of social, religious, economic and political spheres of life tends to weigh him over and above his poetic imaginations. These are all evident in his poems. Basically, he is gifted with an acute intellectual spirit. He has his subtle term of allegory in composition. His poems may easily be characterised as soft spoken lyrical ones in almost all rhymes and reasons. So no serious and revolutionary images could be found in his works.
However, there might be some soul-stirring objects of poetry viz. Kaler Kolos, Asukhe Ekjon, Behaya Sur etc.,but they have hardly any social impact in reality. In his poem Bharatbarsha a sort of eroticism and machismo is displayed while in Bakhtiarer Ghora and Nil Mosjider Imam an episode of Zehad (Religous War) and Iman (Faith) circulates his colossal personality in the identity of the Muslim heroism against the despotic and tyrant pagans of the day. However, he had admitted in an interview with Charulia he read Islam profusely but it was very hard on his part to put Islam in his poetry. Still, he says, I have endeavored to form one of them in one of the poems, Punorutthaner Futkar in the anthology of poem, Nadir Bhitore Nodi. He says, ‘It is Islam’.
In the poetical works of Al Mahmud metaphysical aspects are rare and negligible. Only a transition takes place in one of his poems, ‘Ostachole Nam Rekhechhi’ (I have set my name in the setting sun).
However, I put here my rendering one of the best poems of Al Mahmud’s Sonali Kabin for our readers –
n realism, a poet is a person of flesh and blood. While living in dreamland an emotive sensation of the poet creates elixir that touches life. In sorrow or happiness, in sadness or apathy, in melancholy or pathos, a poet brings out excellent words carrying rhymes of verse from heart and soul, the artistic texture of that verse recreates pleasure in mind and soothes the pain of one’s heart. Actually poetry has its natural ambience where poet’s imaginations accrue benefits.
Al Mahmud is one of the most distinguished poets of Bangladesh who has earned popularity among the poetry lovers of Bangladesh and West Bengal, India. This popularity is gained by the brilliance of imagery of the poet.
His idyllic and phantasmagoria episode in lyrics and beauty of images enamors the throbbing of one’s heart while reading his poetical works. His innate love of beauty provides romance therein and intellectual hubris culminates in euphony.
In an interview to a local journal Charulia Al Mahmud opined on the structure of poetry by saying that ‘poetry’ in his view is the infinite dream of human entity expressed with the recreating languages of rhymes, similes, and metaphors. What we possess in dream, is the thing we call ‘poetry.’
It must have its realism but above realism imagination lays its superb languages of sub conscious mind. The poet has his bitter experience of life down to earth. His experience touches every aspect of internal and external phenomena of nature.
Al Mahmud believes in unreal and unseen images of surrealism. The human being, according to him, is but a bit of poet in person, because she imagines. This power of imagination makes one poetic to some extent.
This human perception must have a certain degree which superseded by the poet compared to the common masses of people. The human cannot live without dream. This dream makes life creative and affluent.
The art of poetry rather remains in all artistic works of life. This has been enthralling us from time immemorial. It is even found among aboriginal human minds from unknown time and anthropology. This has its trend like time’s ebb and tide.
Al Mahmud is a modern poet of Bangladesh. His creativity in poetry limits him in the age he lives. Every aspect of social, religious, economic and political spheres of life tends to weigh him over and above his poetic imaginations. These are all evident in his poems. Basically, he is gifted with an acute intellectual spirit. He has his subtle term of allegory in composition. His poems may easily be characterised as soft spoken lyrical ones in almost all rhymes and reasons. So no serious and revolutionary images could be found in his works.
However, there might be some soul-stirring objects of poetry viz. Kaler Kolos, Asukhe Ekjon, Behaya Sur etc.,but they have hardly any social impact in reality. In his poem Bharatbarsha a sort of eroticism and machismo is displayed while in Bakhtiarer Ghora and Nil Mosjider Imam an episode of Zehad (Religous War) and Iman (Faith) circulates his colossal personality in the identity of the Muslim heroism against the despotic and tyrant pagans of the day. However, he had admitted in an interview with Charulia he read Islam profusely but it was very hard on his part to put Islam in his poetry. Still, he says, I have endeavored to form one of them in one of the poems, Punorutthaner Futkar in the anthology of poem, Nadir Bhitore Nodi. He says, ‘It is Islam’.
In the poetical works of Al Mahmud metaphysical aspects are rare and negligible. Only a transition takes place in one of his poems, ‘Ostachole Nam Rekhechhi’ (I have set my name in the setting sun).
However, I put here my rendering one of the best poems of Al Mahmud’s Sonali Kabin for our readers –
The Golden Deed
I don’t have any Dinar, Oh!
Don’t ask me for that my doe.
If you want me, brace me
with two hands of mine
that has no deed of marriage contract.
In fact I did not lay by gold.
To be sold myself
I am struggling around
But wounded and slashed
By sly frowning.
Better love me. I shall kiss you.
The art of trickery! That I have never learnt.
The only capital with me is my body.
I possess no other ornament,
You embrace me.
Dear buddy, if you come nude,
see me frank and
Masculine that will not be covered
By olive leaf
If you take the fruit
give me the taste of it.
Knowingly or unknowingly let’s remain
Knotted together forever.
Poets are never lost nor
they ever know any defeat.
But their veins and arteries
are severely impaired.
Look at me my woman
how far I remain strained. n