"Hemanta Pramanik as a Keen Observer of Man and Nature": An Overview
With a Special Reference to Songs of Immortality
Hemanta Pramanik is one of the plants of poetic art, growing exuberant with fragrant flowers of poems in the garden of creative writing. As a poet, he carves a niche by virtue of his distinctive characteristics and special features for his thematic brilliance. He occupies a place in the galaxy of contemporary poets to shine in the literary firmament. He contributes the present collection of poems entitled Songs of Immortality to Indian English literature. It consists of the sections: Nature, Mankind, Love and Almighty. It features several poems that enriched the journals and the magazines of high repute like Poecrit, Metverse Muse, The Storm, Poets International, Deshkaal (The Mirror of Time, ISSN2320-012X) and so on. His poems have featured in many anthologies. He participated in Bengali poetry recitals and drama performances.
First, Hemanta Pramanik with the poetic bent of mind was under the inspiration of Shakespearean sonnets. He contributed poems to school and college magazines. He is a bilingual poet and writer in Bengali and English.
Apart from being a poet, Hemanta Pramanik is a critic and translator. He is the Executive Editor of Deshkaal. He is a teacher of English (Higher Secondary School) by profession and a creative writer by passion. He has indomitable attraction for art, music, literature and culture. He has unique stature as a poet.
What according to Hemanta Pramanik is a poet? The poet is above all to state the facts with minute details and show the ways to the human race for enlightenment,
The poet forever
Insights beforehand,
Always a forerunner,
Columbus on a new world 'POET'
The poet always lives and leads the race to the truth in the human ways for humanity, 'illuminating the world thoughts'. He detests the barbaric ways in present society that lead the race to brutality. This collection reflects the truth that he has a sensitive heart to evince his concern for society and its welfare and inquisitive mind to portray his concern for society through the medium of creative writing especially the genre of poetry.
Pramanik loves poetry for its unrivalled characteristics aiming at messages. It presents him comforts, smiles, and joys in all respects. For him, smile is poetry,
...as the poetry
that soothes my mind
with joy an peace
rejuvenating me anew
Poetry, in fact, has all powers to redeem the world from sins, delight the souls in woes and appease the hearts in aches.
The poet can witness what the sun cannot. Pramanik, as a poet, truly presents his observations in his poetry,
To sing the song of peace
On lyrics of hope and freedom 'FANCY FLIGHT'
Whoever holds a mirror to his observations is a poet to record the events, feelings, thoughts, findings, and all taking place in the society around him. It is the poet's bounden responsibility to pen by portraying them with snapshot details. As a poet, he observes nature, life, the life around him (society), love, God and so on.
Pramanik adores Nature. He finds her beauties in his beloved to bestow on him full of gaieties,
That my love for Nature.
Her beauties I find in you,
you are my Nature, I view.
... ... ... ...
Your fascinating face resembles
a freshly blossomed flower
whose beauty mesmerises
me like a butterfly
charmed to its loveliness 'You Are my Nature'
Pramanik personifies nature as Nature by giving the status of divinity. Nature is God's best creation with fascinating sights, sounds and scents for the rapture of every creature as the most wonderful nature on earth,
With great wonder before His creative arts
The mystic beauty as pleasant pleasure
To make me humbled my enlightened spurts 'EVENING BLISS'
As a poet and man, Pramanik feels crazed with the spells and wonders of nature. He feels inspired to write poetry for the gush of his ideas in the natural overflow of emotions,
Seeing Nature grows my rhyme. 'AUTUMN'
As a lover of nature, Pramanik describes the beauty of the celestial objects like the moon in the night in the photographic way,
Autumnal full moon night
awakes whole right,
drenched in moonlight
fairest of all nights 'THE AWAKENING NIGHT'
Pramanik as a lover of nature describes rains, the moon, clouds, storms, green fields, trees, herbs, shrubs, grass, birds, animals, flowers, bees, caterpillars, butterflies, the sky with stars, mountains, hills, plains, rivers, lambs and lions so on. He describes all flora and fauna for he loves them to the core,
The lambs and lions I see in Nature
The hills and the plains exist ever,
Where blue skies mirror upon and vistas
Plants and animals of infinite secies.
... ... ... ... ...
Wonderfully my quest makes the sense
Butterflies all creations His omnipresence. 'MY QUEST'
Even the beauty of every blade of grass with its flowers impressed Wordsworth. So is the case with Pramanik. He expresses his feelings for all 'greeneries of lush green'. He feels impressed by the shines and sheens of the shrub,
Confident and conspicuous the shrub
Whispers in his sweet musings
'I could make the Earth heavenly
and hospitable to all earthlings.' 'FIRST BLOOM'
As a poet and man, Pramanik adores the sun, 'Our beauteous world heaven'. The sun gives us warmth and light-life to all creatures,
Yet the sun glows the horizon
fading the darkest height,
of hope the rays bright
forever enlivens the human 'THE SUN GLOWS OVER THE HORIZON'
Pramanik's descriptions of natural objects are kaleidoscopic. The vivid depiction of the starlit nights is the highlight of the collection of poems,
Eternal twinklers of sky in great unison,
Of black canvas they come out more shining,
... ... ... ... ... ...
This bliss my soul preserves as pure treasure
So aesthetic far off mundane measure 'EVENING BLISS'
Pramanik admits time's greatness in 'LAST DAY'. For him, Time is the true teacher to teach realities and actualities, truths and facts in the journey of life,
'Time, the great counsellor
turns up then
with consoling speeches,
Pramanik admits that time brings about innumerable changes in life and its stages, the cycle of seasons in nature, the lifestyles in society and so on.
As a poet, Pramanik personifies time as Time, giving the status of divinity to it. He concurs with the invincible powers of time as it conquers us all in the universe,
In the deep, unfathomable sea of Time,
Like ships, float all the earthly, mortal things,
The violent waves tune down our lives' chime
To fate surrender we, the human beings. 'Love-The Panacea of Life'
Time creates history. History functions as the record of time. It has powers to witness good and bad. When man resorts to crimes like rapes, murders, and all incidents of violence,
... justice waits Time's turn,
all in the society
the humanitarians forever
tortured community. 'MEND YOUR WAYS'
As a poet, Pramanik feels sorry for life is lacking in essence and devoid of sense, Life is supposed to have sense and essence, values and virtues as the sign of humanity,
My mind aches for essence
of life that purifies the soul.
Life is after all a mixture of tears and smiles, up and downs, ebbs and tides, defeats, and victories. Pramanik is of the opinion,
Human life itself, you know, a struggle
Either royal victory or defeat fatal 'ODE TO SIRAJ-UD-DAULAH'
Life is not a bed of roses. Defeats or failures in life are common and compulsory. We have to concur with the failures when something or someone conquers us. We should accept them as per the idea expressed in the poem, 'DEFEAT' that 'without it life not the pure gold'
Like the Romantics, Pramanik escapes on the wings of imagination from the world of stress and strain, tears, and fears of reality to the realms of fancy for bliss like the caged bird to crave for freedom for its flight in the sky, and sing in delight in peace,
Swooping down to the earth
Flying up to the sky
When dissatisfaction grown 'FANCY FLIGHT'
Pramanik delineates life and its journey through the stages of birth, childhood, youth, middle age, old age, and death. Life is a series of vicissitudes and changes in its sojourn against man's wishes.
Human life
a pictorial journey.
An individual self
Stuffed with events
ornamented with experiences,
a phenomenal manifestation. 'JOURNEY'
Man's birth initiates life to traverse through childhood, youth, manhood or womanhood, old age, ultimately to culminate in death. Birth is holy for the parental loving care. The baby lisps and toddles in childhood and grows to have education for enlightenment. Then childhood proceeds to youth to marry for a family and its progress and harmony. Youth passes on to manhood or womanhood to win goals as per will. Middle age proceeds to old age. As per the poet, old age 'resembles yellow leaf' and it is like 'a dying plant' in the poem, 'OLD AGE'. Old age advances to inevitable death, the end of life in the poem, 'APPREHENSION', "We fear the cruel truth in life'. The poet realistically presents life that exists between birth 'a good start' and death, endless nothingness.
As a social critic, Pramanik focuses on social evils and the incidents of violence as he has concern for the society, he lives in. He opines that the man today has forgotten the principles that are righteous by virtue of his insight. He has learnt gimmicks and tactics instead of principles and scruples. In the age of science and technology, man is indifferent to those principles despite his having insight. He turns the heaven-like-earth a hell-like-earth for his vested wants and selfish goals. As a result, humanity has become topsy-turvy against the ideals of man in principle,
Self his frequent haunts
Believes in false stunts.
Ideals in litterbin
Humanity with lost sheen 'KEY PRINCIPLES'
Society today is full of evils like corruption, deception, and exploitation. It witnesses the incidents of violence like rapes, killings, frauds, thefts and so on and cuts a sorry figure. The acts of man are very painful and sinful. In the human garden today, there are villain-like-weeds especially rapists in overgrowth in the present society,
Women violators,
the social weeds,
may grow rampant. 'BLACK DAY'
Teenaged girl smeared with blood
Torn dresses soaked in blood
Lying dead with unspoken pain
Lost virginity wailing in vain, 'Hush Nothing Happened'
Violation of virginity a game 'WHO DEFLOWER WOMEN'
In society, the rich are to exploit the poor and rob them of their sweat as a clear sign of exploitation. Pramanik expresses his feelings on this in his Preface, "From the times of ancient civilization to that of space expedition, the exploited, the discriminated, the back-warded and h marginal still endeavour to relish the taste and flavour of happiness in life out of their day-night slavery and diligence..."
Pramanik wishes the welfare of the poor, the working class, and the labourers. They should be free from that slavery,
Slavery the imposed fortune,
curse be their poverty, 'THE POOR'
As a poet of humanity, Pramanik shares their suffering and tears when he finds them cry and suffer forever,
the sufferers for ever
The pale of humanity. 'THE POOR'
Pramanik voices the sense of optimism that the poor and the working class will be free from their suffering,
Their grievance a depression
Can't dim your glory long.
You stay unhurt though ages 'HERITAGE'
As a poet and man, Pramanik is against gender discrimination. Both man and woman are equal in all respects. He feels sorry for feticide, the killing of fetuses, female babies in the womb, having preference for the male...
Pramanik sympathises with the victim-martyrs in Pulwama terrorist attack. He calls it a coward's act.
Pramanik excellently presents the innocence of man to turn the earth a paradise or a heaven. He should possess the qualities of head and heart for that,
Child's innocence, flower's purity
Ant's insight, birth birds' unity
Ours are these simples
Should be life's principles. 'KEY PRINCIPLES'
As a poet and man, Pramanik shares the tears of the suffering of humanity due to various incidents of violence,
In this riot-ridden world it often seems
Most of us to the toll of mass-killings,
Fossilized at the bloodshed of victims. 'PAINFUL TOMORROW'
Man is indifferent to others' suffering. The world today is full of violence as its people are over selfish and greedy, 'Myself the focus, for others no feelings.' The poet detests the perilous situation of humanity today.
Man-to-man relation must be fair. Man must be man and appear man. There must not be fancy-dress show to deceive others. Man must not be a goat-skilled-wolf or cow faced man to make others believe that they are innocent. Pramanik hates hypocrisy and double standards. In the poem "Camouflage", he hates dual or pretentious nature,
A fierce wolf
resembling a timid sheep,
A crow incognito
dancing as a peacock
A cunning fox
reigning as forest-king
... ... ...
A die-hard diplomat
Behaving a noble fellow,
an innocent face
Hovering cruel smile
Pramanik likes the society ideal with cordial human relations and amiable humane concerns for harmony of the human race. When humanity has worthy relations and due concerns for tie-strong relations, we enjoy life-long love. He presents man-to-woman relationship, giving respect to woman for her role as mother,
Woman no doubt the household treasure,
Her world of love none could measure,
She's the image runner of motherhood 'WOMAN'
Pramanik has love and honour for woman for she brings forth a baby to be motherly and brings up fondly as mother with care and concern for the baby in the haven of her lap with her wishes for the offspring to come up in life,
A mother is mother
Her name no other,
And the mother's lap
Sun can't warm up,
The pleasant place on earth
First right after one's birth. 'UNIVERSAL'
As a poet and man, Pramanik lovingly recalls his mother's love with deep feelings in his heart. It clearly reflects his autobiographical element,
Both our lives attached by cord
We enjoyed cries, smiles and games,
Encompasses her sweet suveillance
From all my failures to fames. 'MEMORY HER NAME'
Good relations in the past continue to persist and cling in the form of sweet memories in the present. Memory is the blessing of man to recall the past.
To maintain double standards is against man's nature and its welfare. It is a cunning art, the most unwelcome gesture.
A masked appearance
a worm in flower,
always a red alert,
Camouflage whatsoever
evil art.
... ... ...
This dual identity
in teeth and claws
a threat to humanity. 'CAMOUFLAGE'
Pramanik referring to religion, he says that it does not teach any discriminations and disparities between man and man. Religion is humanity and humanity is religion. It is the truth and sense of humanity. He appeals the sidetracked society to learn the fact,
Religion so-called before you
Wrapped with sparkling fringes,
Explore the inner view 'Delving Deeper'
Pramanik believes in love as the chief element to establish human relationships and enjoy humanity at large. He believes in the powers of love as Robert Frost believes, 'Earth is the right place for love'
Pramanik is the lover of humanity. He feels that love, the deepest emotion in life, paves a way for humanity and the bridge for family relations, conjugal relations and finally human relations that are essential for the harmony of humanity. The love for the human race is the only antidote for life,
Love, the panacea for life, in the turmoil
Helps us survive in the devoid of faith, 'Love-The Panacea of Life'
Pramanik finds the conjugal love, 'Conjugal love at stake' in the modern age against the principles of love in the poem, 'TRENDS',
Love solves all problems when we think that we are one, all in one. We belong to humanity. The belligerent nature of enemy countries vanishes when their hearts are full of love. Negotiations or interferences are required for 'global tolerance', amicable solution for the restoration of peace,
When countries in enemity
No role of Narada,
Rather one's interference
Might teach global tolerance. 'Love-The Panacea of Life'
. For the poet, love is like the breeze that pleases all with its cool touch. The cool touch is like human touch in love,
... ... peoples live unloved
O Love, help me make them loved 'LOVE ETERNAL'
Pramanik has love for his nation, motherland. He feels pride for his nation. He craves integrity and unity in diversity. He is an Indian. His all are Indian. His patriotic fervour is evident in his poetry,
I am none,
No other than
A proud Indian AN INDIAN SPEAKING'
As a poet and man, craves for the amelioration of the human race. He says that it flourishes by means of all virtues and values,
One can exhist
only in sacrifices
noble deeds 'LAST DAY'
As a poet of humanity, he appeals to the human beings to be humane and enrich the most revered essential quality of humanity,
Humans! Be humane
With moral acumen,
Damn so the insane 'AN INDIAN SPEAKING'
Pramanik's poetry presents a message to humans as a well-wisher of human race. For him, religion is humanity and humanity is religion to aim at the harmony of humanity,
Believe in religion with is humanity,
Bind all earthlings by love and integrity,
Make so endeared our world family
Building here heaven with peace and glee. 'WORLD FAMILY'
From the literary circles, Hemanta Pramanik deserves encomiums for his thematic brilliance depicted in excellent modes of expression. He employs natural imagery for pictorial richness. He may be a silent spectator, but he is a keen observer of social evils and incidents of violence in the domain of the present society and mirrors all those with poetic dexterity. He rises to be a satirist with his poetic aim to reform society. The collection reflects the fact that he is a poet of humanity and nature. He deserves all acclaim as a poet of par excellence.
Songs of Immortality (As Foreword), Authors press: New Delhi, 2020
Works Cited
Pramanik, Hemantha. Songs of Immortality, Authors Press: New Delhi, 2020
Published: Englit Vol: 3 2024
