When Autumn came,The Dilemma and The Blind Life
INDIAN LITERATURE IN TRANSLATION II
GROUP II
2213312005006 - AYESHA AMBREEN M
2213312005007 - DEEPIKA R
2213312005008 - DHIVYA P
2213312005009 - DIVYADHARSHINI A
2213312005010 - DIVYADHARSHINI S P
“When Autumn Came” is a multi thematic poem written by Faiz Ahmad Faiz- a revolution of Urdu lyrics poet whose poems has been translated into many languages of the world. The poem deals with the tyranny let loose by Autumn on the major constituent of nature namely trees and also on birds dwelling in them. The poet has made an extensive use of certain poetic techniques like personification, symbolism, similes, and metaphors to lay bare the deadening and malignant influence of Autumn on trees and birds. The Autumn itself is personified as a tyrant, unleashing its wrath on, deaf seemingly and dumb animate constituent of Nature i.e., trees and birds stripping the former of their skins and rendering the later homeless as well as speechless. Besides, it makes the entire atmosphere seem forlorn and devoid of glee, joyfulness and glamour. Its first and foremost malignant influence is experienced by leaves-The Hearts of the Trees which lose their lush green hue, assume brownish yellow tingle and are finally shaken off their branches and scattered on the ground. So dreadful is its influence that the “Poor Hearts” just awake a single moan of protest when trodden over by humans or animals.
The tree dwellers i.e., birds, being deprived of their lush green homes, feel as if exiled and forget singing as if rendered speechless. Though seemingly alive, they present a dreadful spectacle of carcasses moving around. In the end, the poet appeals the God of May to bestow life to these deadened ingredients of nature, by way of giving back greenery to withered bodies of the trees and make dead veins of the birds flow with blood again with the passion of this resurrection and let one bird, at least, sing again.
The different seasons of the year have also been favorite subjects of literary and artistic expression. Each season comes with its own charm and beauty. For many, spring, with its lengthening days and reappearance of gentle greens, is the most beautiful season of the year, the long, warm days of summer appeal to others, the bright oranges and browns and reds of autumn bring delight to some, and the short, cold days of winter with its Snow and wood fires bring a sense of comfort and rest to many. In an unusual take on autumn, the poet.Faiz Ahmed Faiz,portrays the season as a time of harsh cruelty and violent death. Autumn is symbolized as a period of misery and loss.
PERSONIFICATION AND ITS EXAMPES FROM THE POEM
Faiz Ahmad Faiz has made an extensive use of certain poetic techniques or devices in his poem “When Autumn Came” and one of the techniques is personification. Personification is a literary device defined as attributing human qualities and characteristics to inanimate (non-living) objects and also to animates other than humans. This technique is mostly used by poets with the sole purpose of creating vivid images in the minds of their readers besides imparting greater sensory quality to their poems.
A typical example of personification from Faiz`s poem “When Autumn Came” lies in the second line only which reads “It stripped them down to the Skin” thus presenting Autumn as a tyrant depriving others of their skins brutally and rendering them bare and naked.
THE DILEMMA AND THE BLIND LIFE
Author Introduction
Nagarjun, who occupied a special place in Hindi literature, was a great poet and famous writer of progressive ideals. Nagarjun’s real name was Vaidyanath Mishra, who was addressed by his
loved ones as Nagarjun and Janakavi.
In Hindi literature, he edited great works like “Yatri” and “Nagarjun” in Maithili language. Nagarjun was a poet of Hindi and Maithili who instilled a new energy in people through his works and spread
public consciousness. Mahakavi Nagarjun has emotionally expressed the pain of the common man with great simplicity
in his work, and he has expressed his views in politics. Let us tell you that Nagarjun deeply understands the problems of farmers and working class and extends emotional condolences to
them through his works.
Career of Nagarjun
He started his literary career with Maithili poems by the pen name of Yatri in the early 1930s. By the mid – 1930s, he started writing poetry in Hindi. His first permanent job of a full-time teacher,
took him to Saharanpur (Uttar Pradesh), though he didn’t stay there for long as his urge to delve deeper in Buddhism scriptures, took him to the Buddhist monastery at Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, where
in 1935, he became a Buddhist monk, entered the monastery and studied the scriptures, just as his mentor, Rahul Sankrityayan had done earlier, and hence took upon the name “Nagarjun”. While at the monastery he also studied Leninism and Marxism ideologies, before returning to India in 1938 to join ‘Summer School of Politics’ organised by noted peasent leader, Sahaj ananad Saraswati, founder of Kisan Sabha. A wanderer by nature, Nagarjun spent a considerable amount
of his time in the 1930s and the 1940s travelling across India. He also participated in many mass awakening movements before and after independence. Between 1939 and 1942, he was jailed by a British court for leading the farmers’ movement in Bihar. He was involved in journalism for a long time after independence. He played an active role in Jayaprakash Narayan’s movement prior to the Emergency period(1975-1977), and therefore was jailed for eleven months, during the emergency period. He was
strongly influenced by Leninist-Marxist ideology. This was one of the reasons that he never found patronage from the mainstream political establishments.
Poetic features of Nagarjun
The poetic features of the great poet of literature Nagarjun are :
Mahakavi Nagarjun has written in both Hindi and Maithili, His simple and intuitive language style keeps readers fascinated with his works from beginning to end. Nagarjun, the great poet of progressive ideals, has used metaphors, analogies, exaggerations and fragrance in his works in a very bright way. Poet Nagarjun has also taken a satire on the government and society through his works. The subject of his poetry are varied. Effects of both his wandering tendencies and activism,is evident in his middle and later works. He often wrote on contemporary social and political issues. His famous poem Mantra Kavita is widely considered the most accurate reflection of a whole generation’s mindset in India. Besides these accepted subjects of poetry, Nagarjun found poetic beauty in unconventional subjects. One of his most astonishing works is a poem based on a show called ‘With Sharp Teeth’.
Because of the breadth of his poetry, Nagarjun is considered the only Hindi poet after Tulsidas to have an audience ranging from the rural sections of society to the elite. He effectively freed poetry from the bounds of elitism. Language Maithili was his mother tongue and he authored many poems, essays and novels in Maithili. He
was educated in Sanskrit, Pali, and Hindi. Hindi remained the language of the bulk of his literature.
The Hindi of his works varies from highly sanskritized to vernacular forms. He was a poet of the masses, and preferred to write in the language of immediate local impact. Therefore, he never adhered to specific bounds of languages. He also had good grasp of the Bengali language and used to write for Bengali newspapers. Works of Baba Nagarjun Poet Kumar Vishwas and channel ABP News aired a video documentary about the life and writings of Nagarjun in their Mahakavi Series Death.
In 1948, Nagarjun was first attacked with asthma. As a result, his health deteriorated day by day. This is why Baba Nagarjunji, the leading poet of progressive ideology, died on November 5, 1998 at the age of 87