Jibanananda Das
Published: 2006
Total Pages: 108
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Jibanananda Das' lyricism is unparalleled in Bengali literature. His early poems are vivid, eloquent celebrations of the beauty of Bengal; his later works, written in the 1940s and 50s, are darker, comments on political issues and current affairs like the Second World War, the Bengal Famine of '43 and Hindu - Muslim riots at the time of Partition. Born in 1899, Jibanananda belonged to a group of poets who tried to shake off Tagore's poetic influence. While he is best known for poetry that reveals a deep love for nature and rural landscapes, tradition and history, Jibanananda is also strikingly urban, and introspective, his work centring on themes of loneliness, depression and death. He was a master of word-images, and his unique poetic idiom drew on tradition but was startlingly new.