THE FIRST MODERN RENAISSANCE POET WHO WROTE AN EPIC

Dr Sushil Rudra

Hee Bango Bhandare Tabo Bibidha Ratan

Madhusudan Dutta , the first modern poet and dramatist (1824 – 1873) lived a very short life and writes both in English and Bengali language. He is an Indian poet of nineteenth centuries. Not much, but some valuable and memorable pieces of literary gems he composed.

He is the first modern renaissance poet and dramatist in Bengal as well as in India. Today , 25th January is his birthday , so we convey a lot of respect to him .

SHORT BIO OF MYCHAEL MADHUSUDAN DUTTA: THE FIRST MODERN RENAISSANCE POET WHO WROTE AN EPIC

Madhusudan , the modern Bengali Poet was a brilliant student of Kolkata’s famous Hindu College ( Now Presidency University) . Rajnarayan Bose, Bhudev Mukhopadhay was his classmate. He studied Bengali ,Sanskrit, Parsia, Greek amongst other subjects.

A JOURNEY: MODERN WRITING:THE FIRST MODERN RENAISSANCE POET WHO WROTE AN EPIC

He began writing while he studied there . He drew everyone’s attention at college for his personality, fluent English speaking like the English man – even more proficiently , extraordinary speaker / orator, and as a well – dressed modern young Bengali student.

In fact , Michael’s exceptionally colourful personality and his unconventional, dramatic and in the many ways tragic life have added to the magnetism and glamour of his name

WORKS & COMPOSITION:THE FIRST MODERN RENAISSANCE POET WHO WROTE AN EPIC

Madhusudan started his literary journey in English language .Actually this was the tradition. Because , it was British period when all the communication had to perform in English and it was king’s language.

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MODERN NOVEL: BANKIM CHANDRA: THE FIRST MODERN RENAISSANCE POET WHO WROTE AN EPIC

Bankimchandra Chattapaddhay also began his literary debut in English which is a novel, “Rajmohan’s Wife”. Madhusudan wrote ” The Captive Ladie “(1849).

¶¶ ” The Captive Ladie ” is the most considerable verse in English written by a Bengali’s pen. This verse( two cantos and with an introduction), appended with Visions of the past had established him as one of the foremost litterateurs of the Bengal Renaissance.

Like many of his other poems ,The Captive Ladie, inspired by the 12th century Rajasthani poet Chand Bardai’s Prithvirajraso, is set in pre- Mutual Delhi , and draws references from both the Indian epics ,The Ramayana (4th century B.C ) and The Mahabharata (4th century A.D) more prominently, from the former.

The Captive Ladie alongwith Visions of the Past dealing with Christian theme , were first published in the Madras Circulator,probably in April – May 1849.

The tale of the Captive Ladie ,previously mentioned , from the store of Indian history and ambitiously addresses quite a few controversial issues like nationalism and patriotism, individual liberty, the practice of Sati, the rehabilitation of much maligned Hindu Gods and the Hindu character.

In this poem , captivity is a happy trope for examining his own cultural plight. This is metaphorically representative of the poet’s captivity in the hands of his English Muse .

MEGHNADBADH KABYA: THE FIRST MODERN RENAISSANCE POET WHO WROTE AN EPIC

¶¶ The first modern poet of Bengali language and literature ,Madhusudan Dutt became famous for his literary epic ‘Meghnathbadh Kabya’. He used blank verse in lieu of analogous , which was entirely new in Bengali poetry than previous Bharatchandra and Ishwar Gupta.

Language, rhetoric , prosody and imageries – are all new and highly significant. 1860 – 1861 may be considered as one of the more productive periods of Dutt’s life because during these two years , the plays padmavati and Krishnakumari , the poems Tilottamasambhava Brajangana .And the epical Meghnadhvadh were published.

¶¶ The poetic composition,Birangana (1862) was succeeded by Chatturdashpadi Kavitabali (sonnet) – a collection of 102 Bengali fourteen- liners- in 1866 and the prose work Hector Badh. He depicted 12 heroines of our ancient literature with verse. It’s an epistle.

¶¶ His another contribution in Bengali literature is his drama. Initially he translated a drama Ratnavali of Ramnarayan ,while he came in contact with the Belgachhia theatre groups , and this association induced in him an unforeseen eagerness to contribute in Bengali.

He composed and translated Sarmistha , Is this called Civilisation? Maya kanan is another drama , published posthumously in 1874.

¶¶ He wrote some love poems in his young age when he was a college student. Wrote a number of letters to his friend ,Gourdas Basak and Raj Narayan Basu and also his mentor Ishwar Chandra Bandhopadhyay . He wrote some essays which published in the famous contemporary news papers .

¶¶ Michael Madhusudan Dutta, the great modern poet was a genius and his contribution in English and Bengali literature are enormous and fabulous, but his personal life was not happy for his reckless expenditure and unrestrained lifestyle.

Mychael Mashusudan Dutta , the first modern poet’s Marriage life was not also smooth . He died in the early , at the age of 49 . We convey our respect to his eternal soul. This year is his 200 hundred years of birthday.

Poet and poems