Modern poetry and Rabindranath's translation of T.S. Eliot/ আধুনিক কাব্য ও রবীন্দ্রনাথের এলিয়ট অনুবাদ

Abstract

The great Nobel laureate, world poet Rabindranath Tagore translated the poem 'Journey of The Magi' composed by T.S. Eliot, one of the renowned representatives of modern poetry in world literature. Rabindranath, one of the greatest romantic poets of the world, added the voice of modern poetry to it. This was a creation within creation. In this poem Eliot portrayed the war-worn city. The world war left its destructive mark on it. Only consumptive thoughts, barrenness and frustration were there. Love was alien there. Actualy the poet wanted to focus on the collapse of civilization, decline of values. Rabindranath translated the poem and it was included in 'Punascha' in the title of 'Tirthajatri'. After first world war a sea change came in social life. Modern poets gave a big blow on the cornerstone of romantic poetry. Influence of modern poets, hard reality took their place also in Tagore's poetry. Next ten years' tenure of Tagore's career after 'Parisesh' was greatly influenced by modernism. Yet, no spontaneous support from him came in favour of European modern poetry. A kind of hesitation, conflict and oscillation was there in Tagore's approach to modern poetry. In his essay 'Adhunik Kabya' Tagore excellently translated few stanzas of Eliot's 'Preludes'. In this rendering, marked with features of modern poetry, Rabindranath's supremacy was proved. He added a significant charm in the mode of modern poetry. But European modern poetry was nothing but anomalous, perversion, arrogant disbelief and extravagance to Rabindranath. He thought that there were few such descriptions of sordid existence of life in Eliot's poetry that harm the elegance of poetry. However, Tagore could not ignore the progenitor of the masterpieces like ' The Waste Land' and 'Four Quartets'. 'Sishutirtha' of 'Punascha' was Tagore's original creation. Here the arrival of the great liberator, Jesus Christ has been announced in this suffering world. Here the two great poets stood in the same path. These two great stalwarts of literature, though contradicted to each other in their approach, tried to get nector of religion through spirituality. Towards the end of life Eliot became spiritualist whereas Rabindranath was an inborn spiritualist.