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Poems of Robert Frost and Kazi Nazrul Islam from an analytical point of view

Published : Saturday, 18 February, 2023 at 12:00 AM  Count : 637

Poems of Robert Frost and Kazi Nazrul Islam from an analytical point of view

Poems of Robert Frost and Kazi Nazrul Islam from an analytical point of view

Robert Frost and Kazi Nazrul Islam have occupied their own domains in the literature wherein romanticism is allied with the elegant ambience of nature, human love, feelings and emotions.

While producing the classic romantic poems they wandered within the realm of romanticism with lofty artistic discourse. In essence, the whole ingredients they perceived from the nature have become a poem and that poem has translated their perceptions into a sublime poetic manifestation.

Abstract
Here, in the poems-'Tree at my window' and 'A row of betel-nut trees by the window', the tree bespeaks  a tint of feminine entity. The tree, by being a lover, interacts with the feelings and emotions of the narrators-Robert Frost and Kazi Nazrul.

 The poems 'Tree at my window' , and 'To Earthward' by Robert Frost and 'A row of betel-nut trees by the window 'and 'My Lover Without a Name' by Kazi Nazrul Islam are selected in this analytical write-up to unveil the poetic thoughts and allusions that have been planted in their poems with supreme poetic excellence.  
 
Poem: Tree At My Window
- Robert Frost (1874-1963)
 
Stanza-1
 "Tree at my window, window tree,
My sash is lowered when night comes on;  
But let there never be curtain drawn Between you and me.   

Stanza-2
Vague dream head lifted out of the ground,  
And thing next most diffuse to cloud, Not all your light tongues talking aloud Could be profound.

Stanza-3
But tree, I have seen you taken and tossed,
And if you have seen me when I slept, You have seen me when I was taken and swept And all but lost.

Stanza-4
That day she put our heads together,
Fate had her imagination about her,
Your head so much concerned with outer,
Mine with inner, weather."[1928]
 
Analysis:
 
In the first stanza of the poem the narrator mentioned the tree very tenderly as 'window tree', that reveals his nearness to that birch tree at the outer side of the window. The poet discretely informed the readers that he used to lower the sash down always at the nightfall, but in that night, though the sash was down, he did not want to draw the window-curtain completely. And delivered his statement with an emphatic resonance-

"But let there never be curtain drawn
Between you and me."   

In the second stanza the narrator lamented that his dream and everything outside the window had been defused in the misty clouds and noisy winds all around that depleted greatly their scope of communication with each other. Poet piteously watched her, felt her agonies, and found her like a soul in utter torments. She spouted out some words to communicate with the narrator, but the words in her light tongue were not loud enough. He wished, her words could be more profound if there would have been no noise of the gale outside.
 
In the third stanza the narrator shared his sympathy and emotional feelings with the readers when she (tree) was taken and tossed by the strong wind and rain.  He watched the stormy wind that swept over her, tossed her and bent her down. She too had seen him when he was asleep and taken, swept and lost owing to his inner restlessness and disquietude that evolved in his mundane life.

 The narrator, Poet Frost in the fourth stanza put down the line - 'That day she put our heads together', where he introduced the tree as 'she' for the first time to the readers; that word transformed the tree into a distinct feminine identity and individuality. That made the whole poem more tender and loftier. In that particular stormy night, she drew the narrator more, she brought their hearts and minds together. Narrator Frost tells us that she (the tree) is much concerned and occupied by her outer issues caused by the howling gales and rains that surround her constantly, whereas he is concerned about her inner torments as well as the weather outside-there she stands alone.
Poem: 'To Earthward' by Robert Frost  

Analysis:
Poet expressed his eagerness to be more intimate and conversable to the rough sand and stiff grasses by lying on them to feel their roughness with all his body and mind (To all my length), that length includes the mind too.  
"I take away my hand
From leaning on it hard
In grass and sand,
The hurt is not enough:
I long for weight and strength
To feel the earth as rough
To all my length."  

A romantic poet revealed his deep inclination to the nature. The poet softly landed himself on the grasses and expressed, 'the hurt is not enough' though stiff grasses and sands are rough, and quite likely to cause him pain.
 
Poem: A Row of Betel-Nut Trees by The Window (original Bengali poem:)

-Kazi Nazrul Islam (1899-1976)
 
"Good-bye, O my night awakening companion by the window!
O my friend, the parting night is getting pale like a shadow!
As of today, moonlight will not shimmer at the window,  
No more will be our silent conversation though. ...."
"Today, before our parting from each other
So many wishes in my heart appear- To know you and to be known!  
The words of your heart I condone,  
Why this greedy mind wants to know then
Some words of the heart that are not spoken?
I know, through words we will never be known,
In our hearts only vina will play the pain!"
"O the helpless tree, tied you're firmly with the land, dust
 Beneath your feet, above, the heat of sky-desert!  
Burnt you're by the heat of sun, at night you're wet by dew..,
If I come ever by mistake in your remembrance,
Forget me! By mistake if my window is left open,  
Close it again!...Whom you find not on the land look not  
For him in the dark sky through the lattice."  [January,1929]
 [Quoted from the poem in ' Sanchita, selected poems and lyrics of Poet Nazrul']
 
Analysis  
 The narrator, Poet Nazrul expressed his emotions, love and despair to the betel-nut trees as he had to leave that home when the night would be dawned. The Poet will be parting from the betelnut trees forever. There will be no shimmering of moonlight on the edge of the window- no silent conversation will take place between them.

In the whole poem the narrator spoke the words of love to his beloved. The silent words exchanged between them are not enough to know each other. The pain of love can only resonate the unspoken words of their hearts when the strings of Bina will jingle with their melancholic sounds.   

By being rooted in the ground his sweetheart (the betel-nut trees) suffers every day with the heat of the sun and gets wet at night by the dew drops. He urged her not to give him back his pain of love if that pain does not inflict her much and appealed to forget him if he ever appears in her remembrance by mistake. An appeal he made to her with heavy heart to close the window if it is left open mistakenly by him and not to look for him at the dark sky above, since she lost him while he was on the ground.  

In this poem the narrator Poet Nazrul mingled the human love with nature. The row of betelnut trees in the poem is adorned with an imagery of a girl. He considered the entire row of betel-nut trees as a single entity and the sole representation of his sweetheart- his dream walker and a beloved companion of the night.

Poem: 'My Lover Without a Name' 1926
By Kazi Nazrul Islam
 
"Thee I adore my dream companion, my belov'd!
 The inducer of thirst in my heart thou art
For not having thee! Thee I adore
O my fanci'd frolicsome lover, eternal belle youthful!
My companion perpetual!
My love thou art, my silent stroller, o the lover fore'er!
Since the day of creation cryest thou hiding behind the desire,"
"Altruistic lamp of thine is yet to be kindled in my lightless
Home! O the infinite! Comest thou not at the finite edge,
In my dream I find the, lose thee in my dream again!"
"By being the pleasing wine
 thou art conceal'd in the grapevine,
But not in my cup!"
 
"That love I drink pouring into many cups, the wine elixir!
O the nameless! I drinketh thee from a pitcher,
From a glass, sometimes from a cup with many desires!".
 
[Quoted from the poem in Sanchita ]
 
Analysis  
 
The narrator Poet adored his beloved sweetheart as his companion in the dream whom he considered to be an inducer of love in his heart. She is infinite to him by being a perpetual lover. She did not come to his finite edge of life. She remained as a dream to him. She is a pleasing wine to him- that wine is still concealed within the grapes of the grapevine but not within his cup. He drinks the elixir- her love sometimes from a pitcher, sometimes from a cup or from a glass.

The Poet is craving after a paragon of emotion to drink her love, his life's elixir by pouring it into many different containers with many variable desires.  The altruistic lamp of her love is yet to be kindled in his lightless home.
   
Conclusion
The poems 'Tree at My Window' and 'A Row Of Betel-Nut Trees By The Window' 'My Lover Without a Name- and 'To Earthward' have evoked similar resonance of romanticism where love and nature are bonded together.  In the 'Tree at My Window' the narrator Robert Frost felt the pain and agonies of the tree that she underwent when she was in the midst of gales.

 'let there never be curtain drawn between you and me' -this compassion prevails all along the poem till it ends.

Both poets- Robert Frost and Nazrul used the elements of nature as an imagery and manifested therein human emotions in a classic way.  
Dr Mustofa Munir writes from Texas, USA, he is a translator and researcher of Nazrul's literature






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