A Tribute to Humanism

Abdul rahman’s “Coronation of Humanism” is a masterpiece among his poems, which pay tribute to humanism. It is an illustrious monument to the success of mankind in space travel. The conquest of moon by mankind is an excellent example of the hegemony of human race in the universe. So the poet as the “Coronation of Humanism” praises it.

“The Human bird of

The global nest

Now has got

The wings of Gabriel.

Oh! Planets!

Wait in queue

To give him a

Warm welcome.

The multitude of

Gravitation

Opens to his staff

Paving the

Proper way.

The rocks which

Kept the secrets of the

Universe till now

Were shaken and

Torn into pieces

By his shouting of

‘Open sesame’

Under the feet of

His horse

There is a lot

Stardust.”

Here in this poem the poet describes man as ‘vamana’ an incarnation of God Mahavishnu.In this incarnation Mahavishnu, first appeared as a short Brahmin and then grew taller than anything in the universe and by such tallest figure he measured the whole universe by his two feet.

The five great elements

Bow down and pay tax

To the great emperor” Man”.

Whose coronation

Is solemnized at the

Throne of Universe.

Just from the seeds of

The forbidden fruit

Oh! What a fine

Heaven

He has created!

Abdul Rahman should be read and enjoyed and no mediator is needed.

The beauty of the language, the power of words, the magic of verbal portraits and the art of poetry find their supreme nature in Rahman’s poetry and if you had not enjoyed it your life is an utter waste.

Mysticism-His Literary Theory

There are so many freedom-movements recorded in the annals of the world history. Many of the movements got success culminating in the emergence of new Nations. The mankind has fought so many battles for achieving freedom. What is the real freedom? Freedom from the control of the five senses seems as the real freedom to the poet. Because mankind suffers a lot as man is enslaved by his senses and plunged in so many desires prompted by his senses. Trill attaining that freedom, man should be considered as a slave, according to the poet.

In this context the following poem may be read.

The force of the body

“Freedom is

My birthright”

Shouted the Jail!

The Life-Time prisoner,

Who was within,

Laughed at it.

This poem is an example for the intense desire of the poet to adopt mysticism. Abdul Rahman is an ardent learner and admirer of Tamil mystics, The Sidhdhars.He has a vast knowledge of the Sufi seers.

Instead of following the post-war modernism of Europe, he wishes to follow the mysticism of the east, it may be noted here.

Expressionism in Abdul Rahman's Poems

In another poem titled ‘The Witness’ the poet gives the picture of sunrise employing expressionism. For all the poets in all parts of the world the “Sunrise’ is a beautiful natural scene to be enjoyed. The ‘Sunrise’ is traditionally used as a symbol to denote the dawn of a new era. But for the poet, Abdul rahman sees it in a different angle. Every sunrise brings sad news and bad happenings in this globe.

Genocide, cold-blooded murder of political leaders, gruesome murders due to the acts of terrorism and many ugly things are brought to our attention by the media in every morning. So sunrise can not be taken as a symbol of new era.

This poet also sees the sunrise as a murder.

White-dotted

Black is

Murdered by the White.

In the green-colored

Tongues of

The earth

Droplets of blood

Which try to

Transform as Words.

In India slaves will be put dots over their body .The Night is described as a black and the stars look like dots put in the body of the slave. The sunlight of the dawn is described as the White. Appearance of the sunlight automatically removes the darkness of the night. It makes the poet to describe the morning scene as a murder of the black. This poem was written during the struggle of the blacks in South Africa. Through this poem the poet conveys his sympathy to the struggle of the Blacks and at the same time gives a different picture of the sunrise, which no other poet has imagined.

Hitherto the ‘Dawn’ is described to denote ‘Hope’. It is always used as a symbol for the emergence of a golden age.

The poet who is most aware of his social context refuses to accept this universal symbol. Because every dawn brings very bad news. Calamities that happen due to cyclone and heavy floods are the curses of Nature

,which man can not control.

But genocide,arrogant wars,aggression,conflicts that arise due to hatred, religious fundamentalism and linguistic jingoism are due to the evil designs of mankind which we have to prevent at any cost.Every dawn brings a bad news like this.This makes the poet to give a quite different portrayal of the dawn.Here he adopts expressionism to give a deep meaning and dense thoughts to give us a provoking poem.

His Genius and Uniqueness

His genius and uniqueness

The poetic genius of Abdul Rahman can not be described in one or two articles. It will be a Himalayan task, if I venture to illustrate his aesthetic appreciation and innovative poetic techniques through his poems.

However I wish to cite a couple of his poems just to point out his genius and greatness.

“The Lightning” is a natural happening everybody is familiar with even from the childhood. Thunder and Lightning frighten us in our childhood and after we grow old, we wish to avoid us from these, as any calamity may occur if we were direct witnesses to them.

The poet after a close observation describes lightning in a poem titled”The Lightning” as follows:

Fire crackers

In the festival at sky.

The fiery snakes

Emitted by

The anthills called clouds.

The enlightened blabber of

The Black lips.

The shorthand writing of

The oration of Thunder.

This poem is an example of the image-producing talent of Abdul rahman. In another poem titled “The Fallen Angels” he gives a multilayered and thought-provoking poem.

If boons

Would become

Curses

Then

Why should

There be

Penances?

Here the words,’boons’,'curses’ and Penances are highly symbolic and if only we are able to catch the meaning of the symbols then we can understand this poem.

In India, where arranged marriage system is prevalent, marriage may be a boon to women. In this largely populated country ‘Employment’ may be a boon to the educated youth. There may be so many things which may seem as boons by various sects of people. The efforts to attain them are the penances done by them. If after a consistent and meticulous effort, the boon they get, disappoint them then naturally they will think like this.

The boons and curses may vary according to the individual’s way and approach to life. But the question will definitely arise if the ‘boons’ become ‘curses’.

The poem tells a thousand things in this short form.

The Poetic genius of Abdul Rahman

He carries a factory of Images in his mind. A kaleidoscopic variety of images are produced instantly when he presents anything even in a casual manner.

How many kinds of images? Concrete, abstract, visual, auditory, full-fledged,

Broken, explicit or obscure and so many kinds can be seen abundant in his poems which make them so much denser in meaning and it is often misunderstood as obscure.

Abdul rahman is an avant-gardist. Technical innovation and thematic surprise are the predominant literary principles underlying his creative process. By constantly employing sophisticated and innovative techniques he makes his poems look like statues carved out of ivory.

He is a profound scholar in traditional literature and an adept in modernist techniques. His traditional knowledge does not bar him in his deconstruction of universal symbols in his poems.

His poems predominantly contain intellectual appeal. But he is concerned to appeal to the head and heart simultaneously, whereas his modernist techniques hinder the average reader from grasping the emotional elements instantly.

The popular notion that ‘Poetry can not be translated” is cent percent correct in the case of Abdul rahman’s poems, .It is highly impossible to give a sincere translation which adopts loyalty to the manner and matter of his poems.

While every word in its order gives deep meaning in his poems if we shift the words, as the syntax becomes different in English, the inner beauty gets distorted.